Victor Cruz is a Giant enigma and a wild card all wrapped into one. And there won't be any clarity until he steps on the field and proves (in a real game) he can play at an NFL level.
The Giants can use Cruz at full strength, but have no idea what to expect from him this season, if anything at all. Cruz has devolved from a Pro Bowl wide receiver to a complete unknown on a roster short on proven wideouts. If he returns at anywhere near his old form, the cries for a No. 2 receiver are overblown. If he doesn't, you have to wonder what the Giants are doing this offseason having not addressed the position.
The Giants offense would be greatly improved with Cruz playing aside Odell Beckham Jr., except his return is not so simple. Cruz has missed most of the past two seasons, first with a torn patellar tendon and then a calf muscle that needed to be cemented back down. Even the Giants aren't sure what to make of him at this point.
"I think you have to wait and see where he's going to be at honestly," offensive coordinator Mike Sullivan said on Friday when the Giants assistants met with the media 10 days before the start of their offseason workout program. "He's coming off a situation with the other issue with the calf. Until we know exactly what he's physically capable of doing, we really are going to be hard pressed to say exactly, 'Hey this is the role he will fill.'"
The results to this point with Cruz are promising, the story said. He's been rehabbing and making progress while working hard in New Jersey. There is optimism within the Giants building that he can return, in some capacity for this season. The Giants lost Rueben Randle to the Eagles in free agency.