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The New York Giants announced Monday that they have assigned a first-round tender to wide receiver Victor Cruz, a restricted free agent. That will place the valuye of Cruz' contract at $2.879 million for 2013. According to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, Giants' co-owner John Mara said today that the team "hasn't negotiated with him at all."
The Giants placed second-rounder tenders on running back Andre Brown and safety Stevie Brown. They declined to tender running back Ryan Torain.
Mara also told reporters today that Cruz is "smart enough" to know that he belongs with the Giants because "he's done very well here."
The interesting question now, and the one we have speculated about a great deal already, is whether or not another NFL team will make a strong bid for Cruz.
To acquire Cruz a team would have to surrender a first-round pick and dole out a huge contract. It seems the Giants don't believe anyone will do that.