For Cruz and Nicks, It’s Time For Giants To Take Care Of Their Own

Hakeem Nicks and Victor Cruz (Image Credit: Andrew Mills/THE STAR-LEDGER via USA TODAY Sports)

The New York Giants began preparations for the upcoming 2013 NFL season without two important pieces to their offense.

It’s deep into OTA’s and there is still no Hakeem Nicks and Victor Cruz around to catch passes from Eli Manning.

This would normally be enough to cause any normal professional football team with a pulse to bang the panic button. However, the Giants appear to be in no hurry to ease the fears of any fans. They also don’t seem to be in any hurry to address the contract status of Nicks and Cruz, their top two wide receivers.

While Cruz continues to quietly wait out a new contract, Nicks has clearly shown he’s aware that his current contract only has one year left on it and he’d like to start talking about a new deal. Both players have valid reasons to expect significant pay raises.

The OTA’s are voluntary so its not as if Cruz and Nicks have to be there right now. However, their absence is enough to at least raise an eyebrow. The longer these contract talks or the lack of talks go, the hotter the temperature will rise around town as far as the fans are concerned.

Nicks and Cruz are the two leading receivers on the team and together they keep Manning’s passing attack clicking. It can’t be too much longer before it draws the ire of head coach Tom Coughlin that his guys are not on the field yet. My gut feeling tells me that the Giants will find a way to take care of their two stud receivers, it just may take a little longer than fans may have hoped and the route maybe a different one than expected…

The Giants could very well go forward with giving Cruz his long-term deal this summer and then wait to see what Nicks does this season before addressing his contract status again. The reason for that being logical is because Nicks is coming off of an injury-plagued 2012 season and the Giants may want to see if he’s fully recovered and can have a bounce-back year before giving him a new deal. It would be a calculated risk if Nicks winds up hitting the free agent market in 2014.

With training camp right around the corner, fans are hoping to see the Giants take care of business and get back to being a playoff team. It has to first start with them taking care of their own.