Giants 1st Round Tender Cruz, Second Round Two Others

Added by Vin D'Anton on March 11, 2013.

By: Vin D’Anton

The New York Giants and wide receiver Victor Cruz are not even close to a new deal so the front office needed to keep him off the market.

According to Mike Garafolo of USA Today, the Giants have applied a first round tender to the star receiver. If a team submits an offer to Cruz and the Giants don’t match within seven days, Cruz is gone and the Giants get a first round pick and possibly others in return. The tender is $2.879 million contract for one year to stay with New York.

Will Victor Cruz not be a Giants next year? - Photo by: Scott Halleran/Getty Images

Co-owner John Mara says he fills a “little more comfort” in this regard, but as we just saw with the Percy Harvin trade that broke a few hours ago, teams will give up the draft picks if they have the money. Back to what I have been saying, the Giants could have avoided this if they would have paid him last year.

In his three NFL seasons, Cruz has made $1.31 million.

Two other key restricted free agents were tendered but second rounders were applied. Running back Andre Brown and safety Stevie Brown received them. If they stay for the one year contracts, both will get $2.02 million. So on top of these three tenders and the signing of Cullen Jenkins, the Giants now have $8.5 millon in cap space with free agency not starting till midnight and the draft in April.

Don’t be surprised if David Diehl or Justin Tuck are released.