Victor Cruz Done for Season; Jerry Reese Addresses the Media

 Posted by
Nov 162015
 
Odell Beckham and Victor Cruz, New York Giants (October 11, 2015)

Odell Beckham and Victor Cruz – © USA TODAY Sports Images

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VICTOR CRUZ DONE FOR SEASON…
New York Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz announced on BleacherReport.com on Monday that he will have season-ending surgery on his left calf. It will be the third leg surgery for Cruz since 2012. Cruz underwent arthroscopic surgery on his left knee in 2013 and major patellar tendon surgery on his right knee in 2014. It is believed the calf injury – which first appeared in mid-August – is related to his comeback from the patellar tendon injury.

Cruz returned to practice on September 30, but suffered a setback with the calf injury. Since then, he had two platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injections to help the healing process. Cruz had said that both were helping to improve his calf and he had started to run again. It was expected that he would attempt to return to practice after the upcoming bye week. However, he apparently suffered another setback on Saturday.

“Saturday he was on the side with the trainers and they were doing some three-quarter speed, then all of a sudden it happened again,” said General Manager Jerry Reese.

“We thought coming off the big patella injury that he had that he was going to be ready to go,” said Reese. “And then all of a sudden, he gets the calf, which has become more bizarre for me—it’s the ‘Year of the Calf’ for us, I guess. Every time we’ve gotten him out there, we babied him through, babied him through, babied him through, then we start to do some things with him and he just can’t do it. Even after the first time we thought he was ready, we thought about putting him on the reserve/return. Our doctors said, ‘That’s too far.’ They said it was too far, so we kept him on the 53 instead of putting him on it. And now if we had known, obviously, we would have gotten a roster player.”

Cruz signed a 6-year, $45.9 million contract in July 2013. Since then, he has only played in 20 games. The annual salaries and cap hits for the 29-year old Cruz in the final four years of his contract are as follows:

  • 2015: $6.15 million salary; $8.125 million cap hit
  • 2016: $7.9 million salary; $9.9 million cap hit
  • 2017: $7.4 million salary; $9.4 million cap hit
  • 2018: $8.4 million salary; $8.5 million cap hit

Reese was asked how much of a challenge it will be for Cruz to return after missing most of the past two seasons. “Yeah, who knows? When you’re gone for a couple of years like that, you just can’t jump back in and play, I don’t think,” said Reese. “I think you have to build your way back up and get your feet under you and get your confidence back and have the quarterback get his confidence back and get that chemistry back. I don’t think it’s an easy road back, but I know how hard he works and how hard he worked in getting back from the patella injury. We’ll see where that goes…If he has the same kind of progress that (safety) Nat (Berhe has) had, maybe this thing will get behind him and he can start on the road back.”

EMMETT CLEARY PROMOTED TO 53-MAN ROSTER, TRAMAIN JACOBS WAIVED…
The New York Giants have signed offensive tackle Emmett Cleary to the 53-man roster from the team’s Practice Squad. To make room for Cleary, the Giants waived cornerback Tramain Jacobs. The Giants have also terminated the Practice Squad contract of cornerback Dax Swanson.

The Giants signed Cleary to the Practice Squad in September 2015. Cleary was originally signed as an undrafted rookie free agent by the Indianapolis Colts after the 2013 NFL Draft. He has since also spent time with the Buccaneers, Raiders, and Bengals. The Giants signed Cleary to a Reserve/Future contract in January 2015. He is a decent athlete who has played both right and left tackle.

The Giants signed Jacobs to the 53-man roster from the Practice Squad on November 7th. Jacobs was originally signed as an undrafted rookie free agent by the Baltimore Ravens after the 2014 NFL Draft. The Ravens waived Jacobs in August 2015 and the Giants signed him to their Practice Squad in September.

The Giants signed Dax Swanson to the Practice Squad on November 5th. Swanson was originally signed by the Indianapolis Colts as an undrafted rookie free agent after the 2013 NFL Draft. Since then he has spent time on the Practice Squads of the San Francisco 49ers, New England Patriots, and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

NEW YORK GIANTS INJURY UPDATE…
According to ESPN, center Weston Richburg has been diagnosed with a “mild” high ankle sprain. “Ankle sprain,” said Head Coach Tom Coughlin. “However long it takes, hopefully he’ll come back next week, he’ll look pretty good after the break.”

Cornerback Prince Amukamara, who has missed the last five games with a pectoral injury says he is ready to return. “I will be ready after the bye,” Amukamara said. “That was kind of the plan all along. We were looking at the fourth week, Buccaneers, seeing if I was going to be ready then. This game came and I still wasn’t ready, so it’s according to the original prognosis, which was three to six weeks and this was the fifth week. If we had a game next week, I would 100 percent be playing…I’m 100 percent playing, according to me, in the Redskins game, unless something not so smart happens.”

GENERAL MANAGER JERRY REESE…
The transcript of Jerry Reese’s press conference on Monday is available in The Corner Forum while the video is available at Giants.com.

HEAD COACH TOM COUGHLIN…
The transcript of Tom Coughlin’s press conference on Monday is available in The Corner Forum while the video is available at Giants.com.

POSITION COACHES…
Transcripts and video clips of Monday’s media sessions with the following coaches are available in The Corner Forum and at Giants.com:

THE PLAYERS SPEAK…
The following transcripts and video of player media sessions on Monday are available in The Corner Forum and at Giants.com:

ARTICLES…

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Eric Kennedy

Eric Kennedy is Editor-in-Chief of BigBlueInteractive.com, a publication of Big Blue Interactive, LLC. Follow @BigBlueInteract on Twitter.

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