New York Giants, Victor Cruz Aiming For Training Camp
The New York Giants are going to take things slowly with Victor Cruz, as he will probably not see the practice field until training camp.
The New York Giants began organized team activities this week, as virtually everyone on the roster attended. While everyone was there, that does not mean that everyone was participating in practice. One of the players that was sitting out practice was wide receiver Victor Cruz.
Cruz has had a tumultuous past 19 months since tearing his patellar tendon Week 6 of the 2014 season. Cruz rehabbed the knee injury, only to tear a muscle in his calf last training camp. He was never able to overcome that injury, and missed the entire 2015 season as well.
Because of that, the Giants are taking an extremely cautious approach with Cruz. While his teammates were going through drills and organized team activities, Cruz was on the sidelines jogging around the perimeter of the field. He was also working alone to the side with trainers, which is all we will probably see Cruz doing at least training camp.
“Right now, we’re looking for him to get back here, and he’s working to get back, for training camp,” Giants coach Ben McAdoo said of Cruz. “That’s the goal. Small steps.”
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Any size step is a good step for Cruz, as it has been a long road back to even the practice field. The Giants have no idea what Cruz will show up if he makes it back, as there is no guarantee that he returns to the pre-injury level of performance; he could be a shell of himself. The Giants are hoping that it is the pre-injury form, but they Giants aren’t banking on that.
Last season there was a lot of optimism surrounding Cruz, as his rehab was going well last year until the calf injury. He looked good in practice, but he never made it to game action. That should be enough to temper expectations for Cruz, as the Giants are probably considering anything they get from Cruz as an added bonus, which is the right way to go about things.
Eli Manning offered some words on the situation, as he would love to have his former No.1 receiver back in the fold but understands that it will take time.
“We’ve got to get him healthy,” Manning said. “We’ve got to make sure that everybody is being smart and understanding that he’s had several injuries and surgeries. So just make sure you’re being smart with his workload and make sure we get him to training camp. When the doctors and everybody say he’s cleared and ready to go, then that’s a good thing.”
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Everyone would love to have Cruz back on the field, but it is something that will take time. The Giants offense has been explosive in the last two seasons with really just Odell Beckham Jr. as a threat. If you can get anything from Cruz alongside second round pick Sterling Shepard and the Giants offense could be down right scary for opponents to gameplan against.