Cruz still has his head on straight and fully intends on being a top contributor to the teams offense

Despite signing star wide receiver Victor Cruz last week, the New York Giants still need to sign Victor Cruz. It sounds confusing, but without a long-term deal in place, the Giants are in danger of allowing their salsa dancing sensation to hit unrestricted free agency next offseason, when a team with more salary cap flexibility could swoop in and sign Cruz to an offer the Giants are unable to match. The team has already offered a deal upwards of $8 million per year, but even that has not enticed No. 80 to put ink to paper and secure his financial security for the rest of his life.

Regardless, even through his extremely public contract dispute with the Giants, Ralph Vacchiano writes that Cruz has stayed in football shape by mirroring Big Blue's offseason workout program with New York Islanders director of sports performance Sean Donellan.

One way or another, Cruz is going to play for the Giants in 2013. He did not attend the team's voluntary offseason workout program, nor did he make it to mandatory mini-camp. Neither of those absences came as a surprise, but it's still imperative to know that Cruz has maintained an elite level of fitness during the offseason so when he finally does report, his production remains at a Pro Bowl level.

Although Cruz has significantly increased his media presence since he hit stardom, Donellan says that the star wideout has not lost focus on what got him to where he is today.

Victor Cruz and the Giants should have come to a long-term contract agreement months ago. It's a shame this soap opera is likely going to drag into training camp, but it's refreshing to hear somebody say that Cruz still has his head on straight and fully intends on being a top contributor to the teams offense next season.

A little less than two weeks ago, the New York Giants were going to make a run at former Pro Bowl fullback Vonta Leach as they had inquired about his services following his release from the Baltimore Ravens back on June 11.

With about $3.3 million left in cap space and the team still needing money to sign their last two draft picks, plus Victor Cruz, it looks like the Giants will not be pursuing Leach after all. And, at least at the moment, the likely front runners to win the veterans services will be the Miami Dolphins.

Following his release from Baltimore after failing to restructure his contract in 2013, teams like the Giants and Dolphins all showed interest, but as it was earlier reported, it always seemed like a long shot that the Giants would ultimately be the ones to land him because of their salary cap situation and Leach's unlikeliness to accept a veteran minimum deal to come to New York.

The Giants interest in Leach made sense because of Henry Hynoski suffering a knee injury in the Giants' OTA's and is not expected back until at least September, but that is if everything goes right with his rehab and no major setbacks happen. In the meantime, the team had shifted tight end Bear Pascoe over to the fullback spot, something he has done before in the past when needed.

With the Dolphins looking to close a deal with Leach by the end of this weekend, the Giants focus will likely turn to middle linebacker Desmond Bishop, who was released by the Green Bay Packers on Monday and the team has interest in him on their defense.

Back in 2007, the Giants had signed Leach to an offer sheet, but it got matched by the Houston Texans. In 2011, the Giants and Leach were interested again, but the Ravens signed him to a three-year deal. From the looks of things, the third time won't be the charm between both sides.

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The Giants were coming off a four-win season

Victor Cruz has no choice between now and training camp but to sign the multi-year offer the Giants weeks ago put on the table, because playing for less than $3 million for this season makes absolutely no sense.

So says a prominent NFL player agent who has done many lucrative deals throughout the league.

“I don’t see how he can’t [sign the deal] now, I don’t understand it, it’s just logic,’’ said the agent, who asked not to be identified.

Cruz walked into the Giants’ facility Friday and signed the one-year tender that will pay him $2.879 million for the 2013 season. Both the Giants and Cruz hope a long-term deal can be finalized before the July 26 reporting date for training camp, but for that to happen, Cruz is going to have to accept he will not be earning what he believes is his market value.

“I don’t see any scenario where he gets any more money than they have on the table right now,’’ the agent said, “unless out of the goodness of their heart they decide to throw him a couple extra million.

“If you’re Victor Cruz, you’re never getting paid by the Giants, ever. They’ve never had an $11 million receiver, you’re not gonna be it. They had every opportunity to lock you up — they’ve given you exactly what they feel you’re worth.You can disagree until the cows come home, it does not matter. And now you’re going to go out there and help make them better, which is going to make them stronger. If you can live with that, then that’s what you should do.’’

Cruz eyed a deal that averaged at least $10 million per year and the Giants countered with a contract that would pay him more than $7 million per year. It is believed the Giants are offering $12-15 million in guaranteed money and Cruz is seeking $15-18 million in guaranteed money.

If Cruz did not sign the tender he could have held out of training camp with no repercussions, as the Giants could not fine him because he would not have had a contract. That leverage is now gone for Cruz, who would incur fines of $30,000 for every day he held out of training camp.

“You look weak,’’ the agent said. “ ‘I want a long-term deal and I’m not going to play unless you give me one,’ and then I sign, which takes my leverage away from getting a long-term deal. There are some players who will come in and say, ‘I trust the team and hopefully they do the right thing,’ which is basically what Cruz is doing.’’

The Giants can prevent Cruz from hitting the open market until the 2015 season, as after this season they can designate him a franchise player, which would pay Cruz $10.5 million for the 2014 season. In that scenario, he would play the next two years for slightly more than $13 million, considerably less than what Cruz believes is his market value.

“This year doesn’t help him at all,’’ the agent said. “What’s Cruz going to do this year other than become overexposed? He could go out there and have 100 receptions for 1,300 yards and 12 touchdowns and be the hottest thing on the market next year and then they’ll just franchise him. That’s all he’s playing for.’’

Taking out a disability insurance policy for the season would not help Cruz, as the payoff is based only on a career-ending injuryand not income replacement.

If Cruz did not sign the tender, he could have sat out the season and then hit the open market, but would have burned his bridges with the Giants. Clearly, he wants to stay and get paid, and that desire likely will lead him to relent and accept the standing offer.

Ernie Accorsi spent most of his adult life in the NFL. He was the general manager when the Colts drafted John Elway in 1983 (he resigned a short time later after finding out that owner Robert Irsay had agreed to trade Elway without Accorsi's knowledge), and he was also responsible for pulling off the deal that brought Eli Manning to the Giants hours after the Chargers had selected Manning with the first overall pick in the 2004 NFL Draft.

At the time, trading for Manning was a huge risk. The Giants were coming off a four-win season. To acquire Manning, they gave up Philip Rivers (whom they had drafted fourth overall in 2004), an '04 third-rounder and a first-rounder in '05 (San Diego selected kicker Nate Kaeding and outside linebacker Shawne Merriman, respectively).

Manning struggled as a rookie, going 1-6 as a starter, completing 48 percent of his passes and tossing six touchdowns against nine interceptions. But Accorsi saw enough in Manning -- who played on a mediocre Ole Miss team -- to know that it was a chance worth taking.

Some highlights: "In shotgun on most plays and his only running option is a draw … his offensive line is poor. Red-shirt freshman left tackle. Eli doesn't trust his protection. Can't. No way he can take any form of a deep drop and look downfield. With no running game (10 yards rushing the first half) and no real top receivers, he's stuck with the three-step drops and waiting til the last second to see if a receiver can get free. No tight end either. No flaring back. So he's taking some big hits. Taking them well. …

"Plays smart and with complete confidence. Doesn't scold his teammates, but lets them know when they line up wrong or run the wrong pattern … Threw three interceptions. Two were his fault. Trying to force something both times. He could have run on one of them, a fourth-down play. He has a lot to learn."

In the scheme of things, the three interceptions didn't matter; Accorsi was still impressed: "Think he's the complete package. He's not going to be a fast runner, but a little like Joe Montana, he has enough athletic ability to get out of trouble. Remember how Archie ran? In that department, Eli doesn't have the best genes, although I never timed mom Olivia in the 40. But he has a feel for the pocket. …

"Has courage and poise. In my opinion, most of all, he has that quality you can't define. Call it magic …Peyton had much better talent around him at Tennessee. But I honestly give this guy a chance to be better than his brother."

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Eli Manning wishes Hakeem Nicks, Victor Cruz were at OTAs

As we head into the second week of June, still about three months before the NFL's regular season begins, does it truly matter if Giants receivers Victor Cruz and Hakeem Nicks haven't shown up for one voluntary OTA practice?

Probably not to most of the world (unless you happen to be a Cary Williams fan). But to Eli Manning, who hasn't thrown lately to his two top receivers, it's kind of a big deal. Earlier in the offseason, Manning tossed passes to the duo while training at Duke University, but that was nearly two months ago.

And it doesn't sound like New York's quarterback is all that pleased by the absences of Cruz and Nicks.

"You got some work [at Duke], but I was really hoping that would be a little starter course to the spring and not a substitute for what we're doing on the field right now," Manning said Thursday via USA Today. "This is the stuff where you're getting to go against cornerbacks. You get to work your technique. You get to practice those things we're going to do in the season."

While Cruz still isn't happy that he hasn't been offered a long-term contract by the Giants and still hasn't signed his restricted free agent offer (he might even be looking into reality TV in order to supplement his income), Giants coach Tom Coughlin isn't sure why Nicks hasn't been around, especially since Nicks was at Giants headquarters for pre-OTA offseason workouts.

Lest you forget, the practices are voluntary, meaning neither Nicks nor Cruz is doing anything illegal or wrong by not being there. That won't be the case next week when the Giants hold their mandatory minicamp, meaning Nicks but not Cruz will be required to attend. But the receiving duo also isn't making Coughlin real happy. Or the guy who's supposed to be throwing them passes.

Not that Manning would make a fiery public statement.

“I've got to worry about the guys that are here. That's all I can do," Manning said. "I've got to worry about each practice trying to get better. Making sure I know what I'm doing, working on the things that I need to improve on and then talking it over with the guys that are out there on the field about each play, watching film with them, making sure we're on the same page and we've got a chance to go out there and win the practices."

That's more difficult to accomplish when two of your best receivers, no matter their reasons, aren't in the building and on the field.