Earlier in the season, Giants receiver Victor Cruz said the structure was in place for a new contract, which would compensate the third-year, minimum-salary wideout far more handsomely for his performance.
Since then, the deal hasn’t been finalized.
“Right now we are just going back and forth until the numbers are right in our favor and what we like,” Cruz said Friday, via ESPNNewYork.com. “There’s some give-and-take, no one side is just going to win the entire negotiation.
“Once we get closer to the numbers that we want, then the deal will be signed. There are some things that are in place, like the structure and things like that. So it is just a matter of time.”
The problem for Cruz is that, until the time comes to sign the deal, he’ll continue to bear the risk of injury. Indeed, if Cruz tears an ACL or suffers some other serious injury on Sunday against the Falcons (or in any game before he applies his signature to the bottom of the deal), the structure will disappear. Along with the rest of the deal.
The Giants possibly are holding back a bit in the hopes that Cruz will decide to put the bird in the hand in his bank account. Whether right or wrong, it’s good business to hope that Cruz takes less than he wants in order to get more than he has, before he ends up with nothing.
