Victor Cruz signs restricted tender

The "Salsa" is still alive (for now) in the Meadowlands. According to ESPN's Josina Anderson, Giants wide receiver, Victor Cruz, has signed his restricted free agent tender. Cruz had not appeared at the Giants facility all offseason and missed mandatory minicamp this week. The signing means that both Hakeem Nicks and Cruz are signed for this season.

Both Nicks and Cruz are seeking long-term commitments and big dollars from the Giants and there is still a possibility that Cruz holds out during training camp. Several reports have speculated that the only reason Cruz is signing the tender is because on June 17th, the team can greatly reduce the offer. Cruz's current tender offer is $2.87 million, but if he does not sign before the 17th, the Giant could bring it down to $590,000. That's a whole lot of money to leave on the table!

Cruz could pull a Mike Wallace and sit-out the majority of the year, which would not only impact his salary but also the Giants chances of contending. The Eagles play the Giants in Weeks 5 and 8 and those games are well-before Cruz would have to show up for an accredited year on his NFL resume (if he holds out all year, he would again be a restricted free agent in 2014). If Cruz holdouts out into the 2013 season, the Giants will feature a wide receiver group with Nicks, Rueben Randle, Ramses Barden, Louis Murphy and Brandon Myers at tight end. While Nicks is a top wide receiver in the league, he is injured often and has very little support from his unit. This could be a good thing for the rest of the NFC East.