The NY Giants were hoping to have Victor Cruz back after the bye in Week 11, but the wide reciever announced that he is having surgery on his injured calf and will be out for the rest of the season. More to come as updates happen.
Cruz announced the news in a video on Bleacher Report and the surgery comes after the wide receiver attempted to come back multiple times this season. Cruz originally suffered the calf injury during the preseason and he attempted to play in Week 4, but aggravated the injury in practice. Cruz injured his knee last year and had surgery and he recovered well from that injury, but once the calf injury cropped up he was never able to get back on the field for the Giants this season.
Cruz signed a five-year, $43 million contract before the 2014 season and now with no guaranteed money left on the deal, there is a chance the Giants will ask Cruz to take a pay cut. Dan Graziano at ESPN writes that Cruz and his future with the Giants "can now be considered in doubt" and while that is not a guarantee that Cruz will be let go, the team likely will have a conversation about a contract restructuring next year.
"This hurts, mainly because I worked so hard to come back from my patellar tendon surgery," Cruz said in a video posted to Bleacher Report. "There are certain things that happen to your body that you just can't explain."
All of this comes as the Giants lost another close game, falling to the Patriots on Sunday 27-26 after a field goal at the end of the fourth quarter.
UPDATE: The Giants lost to the Patriots on a last second field goal on Sunday.
UPDATE: Victor Cruz will have surgery and is out for the rest of the season. Check here for more.
The NY Giants are hoping to have Victor Cruz back after the bye in Week 11 and the wide receiver could be on track after having a plasma injection on his calf injury. The Giants are playing the Patriots in Week 10 ahead of the bye and players like Odell Beckham, Shane Vereen, Rueben Randle and Rashad Jennings are solid fantasy football start options for Eli Manning.
The Giants have not had Cruz on the field this season and the wide receiver is hoping to return following knee and calf injuries over the past year. Cruz had knee surgery last year and was progressing well into the preseason before suffering a calf injury for the Giants. Cruz attempted to return for Week 4 of the regular season, but he suffered a setback in practice and has not been able to get back on the field. But Cruz could finally be nearing a return for Big Blue.
According to the Newark Star-Ledger, Cruz has a second round of plasma injections on his calf injury to help speed up his recovery and the wide receiver has been making progress. The report says that Cruz could start "running routes" this weekend and if things go well, he could be on track to return in Week 12. The Giants have a bye after playing the Patriots this weekend and that could give Cruz enough time to get into shape to return. Cruz said that he has not been feeling pain in the calf and he has already been doing some light running on the side during team workouts.
The Giants would love to have Cruz back in any capacity, as he would help take some pressure off of Odell Beckham and Rueben Randle on offense. Eli Manning has been working well with those two receivers along with Dwayne Harris this season and he has 19 touchdowns and just six interceptions and is completing 65 percent of his passes. The Giants offense has shown the ability to put up potions and this week against the Patriots players like Shane Vereen and Randle could step up as sleeper players in fantasy.
The Giants have won three straight against the Pats, including two Super Bowl victories, and that adds some intrigue to the game Sunday. The team just got back Jason Pierre-Paul and he made an impact in the win against the Buccaneers and now he is ready to take on the Patriots for Week 10. The pass rush needs a boost from JPP, as other units of the defense have been banged up, including the secondary. According to Pro Football Talk, Prince Amukamara will miss a fifth straight game with a pectoral injury, while Jonathan Hankins is out for the season with an injury.
The offensive line has been better than expected for the Giants this season and the team was still hoping to get back Will Beatty at some point after the tackle tore his pec this offseason, but now that is not going to happen. Tom Coughlin said to the media this week that Beatty will not come off the PUP list this year and is now out for the season.
