Victor Cruz released: Should Eagles sign former Giants wide receiver?

The Giants will officially release wide receiver (and salsa dancer) Victor Cruz on Monday, according to multiple reports. New York will save $7.5 million in cap space by cutting him.

The natural question for any fan at this point in the offseason when there’s nothing else going on and a big name player gets cut is: “Should my team sign that player?!”

And in this case, the answer is “No.” The Eagles should not sign Victor Cruz. Here’s why.

• Cruz turns 31 in November. His best football is behind him.
• Cruz missed 28 games after suffering a torn patellar tendon during an Eagles-Giants matchup in 2014. His health is a concern. He’s only started all 16 games once in his career.
• Cruz only caught 54.2% of the passes thrown his way in 2016. He’s not a reliable target.
• Cruz only scored one touchdown on his 39 receptions last season. He’s not a scorer.
• Cruz is at his best in the slot. The Eagles already have a designated slot guy: the 24-year-old Jordan Matthews.
• Cruz ranked 75th out of 93 receivers ranked by Football Outsiders last season. He finished 99th out of 115 receivers graded by Pro Football Focus. Take that for what it’s worth, but that’s not very inspiring.
• Cruz is a former Giants wide receiver. The Eagles have terrible luck with those guys! See: stev smit, Rueben Randle.
• Cruz was on the boat that doomed the Giants to a playoff loss this year. This is simply something no one can ever come back from.

Now, it’s possible Cruz would represent an upgrade over what the Eagles currently have. Cruz had more receiving yards (586) in 2016 than any Eagles receiver not named Jordan Matthews. (And he only had 218 less than Matthews.) But that’s not really saying much because the Eagles’ receiving corps is dreadful.

The Eagles can do better than Cruz. Sure, if they brought him on a low-risk deal, whatever, but that doesn’t seem likely.

Next question.

No, the Eagles shouldn’t signed Rashad Jennings (whom the Giants also released) either.