New York Giants: How Victor Cruz and Josh Gordon Are Alike

Wide receivers Victor Cruz and Josh Gordon have one big thing in common heading into the summer of 2016.

You may not think that New York Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz and sort-of Cleveland Browns player Josh Gordon have a lot in common other than the fact that they play the same position in the National Football League.

Cruz, as far as we know, has been a model citizen since he first became a member of the Giants. There has never been a time when Cruz was deemed to be a distraction or a negative presence in the New York locker room. Even when Cruz wanted to make sure that he was paid during the spring of 2013, the majority of fans who called into local sports talk radio stations were, at the very least, understanding of Cruz’s situation and the fact that he wanted to take care of himself.

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Gordon, on the other hand, has largely been a mess for the Browns. He has repeatedly (allegedly) failed to comply with NFL rules, as ridiculous as they may be considering the fact that it is 2016. There are pockets of Cleveland fans who are concerned with the fact that Gordon and troubled former Cleveland quarterback Johnny Manziel have seemingly remained close even though the Browns cut Manziel this past winter.

The one thing linking Cruz and Gordon as of the end of April 2016 is that nobody should expect either man to do much of anything during meaningful NFL games this fall.

We’ll start with Gordon, if only because his case continues to be frustrating and even a bit infuriating. Gordon’s status as a NFL player remains in limbo because he (allegedly) failed another league drug test after he was suspended for the entire 2015 campaign for violating the league’s substance abuse policy. Gordon will be given another shot at some point this coming summer to prove to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell that he deserves to play in the league.

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Gordon is, by all accounts, in tremendous physical shape. Check out his Twitter and Instagram pages if you want glimpses of Gordon’s workout program over the past year. Being fit and healthy is, of course, different than being in football shape, and Gordon has barely been a NFL player over the past year and a half. Gordon’s last regular season action occurred in 2014, when he made five appearances for the Browns.

Gordon failed to register a single touchdown in those five games.

Just like with Gordon, Cruz has been a NFL player in name only since 2014. It was on October 12 of that year when Cruz suffered as serious a knee injury as you will ever see take place on a football field. That injury ended Cruz’s 2014 season, and setbacks last fall cost Cruz any chance of playing for the Giants in 2015.

Cruz is back with the Giants and taking part in offseason activities this spring. Take a quick spin around Twitter and via your favorite Internet search source, and you will probably find stories about how Cruz is feeling “100 percent” and that he is taking steps toward resuming his NFL career. You can imagine the excitement in the eyes of Big Blue fans as they envision Cruz once again completing salsa dances in end zones after he scores touchdowns.

Pump the breaks, everybody. It wasn’t that long ago that the Giants went through this exact scenario.

Steve Smith was a favorite target of New York QB Eli Manning beginning during Smith’s second season in the NFL. Smith made one of the biggest plays of Super Bowl XLII when he converted a third-and-11 late in the contest, and Smith left no doubt about his worth to the Giants the following season when he caught 107 passes and scored seven touchdowns.

Then came December 2010. That is when Smith suffered a knee injury that, on paper, was not as career threatening as what downed Cruz back in 2014. While Smith, per then-NJ.com writer Mike Garafolo, attempted to return to the Giants, he wasn’t the same player or athlete. Smith never again played for the Giants, and he retired in March 2013.

The point of all of this is simple: Just as the Browns and every other NFL franchise out there cannot expect that Gordon will be an available player at any point between now and September, the Giants should not assume that Cruz will ever be able to contribute as he did before his knee injury. As unfair a situation as it is, history suggests that Cruz won’t be as explosive as he was in early October 2014.

It appears that those running the Giants understand the reality of Cruz’s situation. There continue to be rumors, such as one posted on WalterFootball.com, that the Giants could move down in the 2016 NFL Draft and then select a WR such as Laquon Treadwell. This would give Manning the additional weapon that he needs on offense, it would make good use of the end of Manning’s physical prime, and it would also provide cover for Cruz if Cruz’s career as we once knew it is over.

Nobody should automatically assume that the Giants taking Treadwell or any other wide receiver in the first round of the 2016 NFL Draft means that the club is punting on Cruz’s return. In a perfect scenario, Beckham, Cruz and a rookie wideout would help Manning have an even better season than he had in 2015 when the two-time Super Bowl Most Valuable Player threw 35 touchdown passes.

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An interesting thought to ponder: Between Cruz and Gordon, who would you rather have the rights to on August 1? Gordon could theoretically be reinstated at that time, and his knee should be in better shape than Cruz’s. Cruz, meanwhile, will have hopefully spent several months training for the 2016 campaign while also staying healthy.

For all we know, the Giants could have the rights to both players by the time Labor Day roles around.