E-GIANTS
Dave Klein was the Giants' beat writer for The Star-Ledger from 1961 to 1995.
He is the author of 26 books and he is one of only four sportswriters to have covered all the Super Bowls. Dave has allowed TEAM GIANTS to reprint some of his articles.

CRUZ HASN'T SIGNED JUST YET BUT DON'T DESPAIR – HE WILL

By Dave Klein
Nothing new from the Victor Cruz newsroom, although he hasn't received another offer from another team and it is beginning to look as though he won't.

Why?

He probably wants more money - or his agent, Tom Condon, does - and teams are a bit reluctant to spend that much on a position that is so easily filled. Besides, the offer he has received from the Giants, said to be five years and $35 million, is probably more than another team would risk and therefore he either takes it or plays for the one-year tender of $2.879 million and tests the market next year, when he's all grown up as an Unrestricted Free Agent.

Meanwhile, talking about wide receivers, the Philadelphia Eagles has made some news in that area. (By the way, what's the difference between the Grammies and the Super Bowls? The Eagles have won six Grammies.)

The "other" Eagles, the ones who wear green-and-white and finished last in the NFC East in 201 have signed a wide receiver from Boston College who didn't play anywhere last season, He is Ifeanyi Momah, and his claim to fame is that he is 6-7, weighs 240 and ran a flat 4.0 in the 40-yard dash.

Momah played at Boston College and tore his ACL (right knee) in the opening game of the 2011 season. He missed the rest of that year and the entire 2012 campaign. His career shows 39 catches for 629 yards (16.1 average) and six touchdowns. Just picture him as a red zone threat leaping over some 5-10 cornerback, you know? He went undrafted in 2012 after the NCAA rejected a university appeal for an additional season (it would have been his sixth) because of the injury.

Remember, Ramses Barden had similar size and speed and he’s still waiting to hear from a team since the Giants decided not to offer him a new contract.

Reports have surfaced that the Jets (drafting in the ninth position of the first round) have apparently decided to select outside linebacker Jarvis Jones of Georgia (6-2, 245), and there are other reports that when Tampa Bay comes up (in the 13th spot) the trade of cornerback Darrell Revis from the Jets will be announced, which will give them at least one other first round pick plus whatever else they can cajole from the Buccaneers. Am I missing something, or isn't Revis damaged goods?

By the way, new reports have filtered in that the Giants are interested in a linebacker (no, not Manti Te'o) named Alec Ogletree, who coincidentally is also from Georgia and is a virtual mirror image of Jones (see above) at 6-3 and 240).

Also circulating are reports that wide receiver Domenik Hixon, who did not get an offer from the Giants as an Unrestricted Free Agent, has appointments to see the Cleveland Browns and Carolina Panthers. ... He previously stopped for a cup of coffee or a smoothie in Denver and Detroit. ... If he actually signs with the Panthers, he'll become the second former Giant to be reunited with their former Pro Personnel guru, Dave Gettleman, who became Carolina's general manager last winter. ... Middle linebacker Chase Blackburn signed a contract there last week.

One of the Giants' scouts, after the team signed free agent wide receiver Louis Murphy, was boasting that the 6-2, 200-pounder with 4.1 speed "is like a hot knife going through the secondary," to which someone else remarked: "Yeah, and didn't your mother tell you never to run with knives."

Guard Kevin Boothe signed a one-year contract for approximately $900,000, and linebacker Keith Rivers signed for one year and $800. ... Keep in mind that both will be free agents next season and if either has an outstanding 2013 season, it will cost the Giants a lot more to keep them then. ... The team will conduct its voluntary off-season workout and conditioning program beginning April 15, to be followed by mandatory Organized Team Activities (OTAs) from May 22 through June 7. ... Minicamp takes place June 11 through 13 and yes, thatls mandatory, too.

Check out Dave's website at E-GIANTS where you can subscribe to his newsletters which run much more frequently than what is available here.
- Team Giants

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