The Giants have offered restricted free agent wide receiver Victor Cruz a long-term deal worth $7 million a year, which considering the current climate, seemed to at least be in the neighborhood.
But it’s apparently not close to what Cruz and his new representatives are looking for.
According to Ralph Vacchiano of the New York Daily News, several league sources said Cruz was asking for closer to $10 million to $11 million per year.
That’s the gulf between Dolphins-are-desperate-and-have-a-stadium-referendum-coming money, and the established market for slot receivers.
Of course, Cruz should make more than Wes Welker based on age alone (he’s 26 to Welker’s 31).
But wanting eight figures per year indicates an ambition beyond the realities of the current market, the kind of thing that leads a player to align himself with stars in hopes of even greater riches.
Good for him if he gets it, but he could end up with a long wait and a roll-the-dice year on the restricted free agent tender of $2.879 million, because those kind of deals are few and far between this offseason.