Victor Cruz says he took less money than he deserved

After he signed his contract a week ago New York Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz seemed thrilled by his 6-year, $45.8-million deal. Monday on Sirius XM NFL Radio, however, Cruz admitted he felt like he didn't get as much as he deserved.

"I'm not going to lie, it's tough. It's tough. When you understand from a numbers standpoint, and the numbers you put up you feel like deserve a certain amount of money ... and you want your team to owe that to you. But I think playing in NY, you can't take that away. You have to hold that up to an account at some point when you're going through these negotiations. You ask yourself 'Would you want to play for this amount in New York and play in the best city in the world and play football, and -- I'm a hometown kid -- be close to home and your mom and your family? Or do you want to take a big pay day and go somewhere like Kansas City or Minnesota where your family might not be able to come as often as you want and you're living in a city you're not too familiar with and it's an adjustment for you?' So you have to take all those things into account as well. But I'm not going to say it's easy when you see guys getting these huge paydays and you feel like you're at the same caliber, if not better than some of those guys."

Nobody is going to feel sorry for Cruz. Of course he probably would have liked more, but he signed the deal. Besides, I'm not sure how many Giants' fans -- or Paterson, N.J. folks Cruz grew up with -- want to hear that "it's tough" to sign a $45.8-million deal. As long as he doesn't turn this into an Osi Umenyiora-type situation where he spends the duration of his contract trying to get more, then this shouldn't mean anything.

-- 'Kudos' to Ralph Vacchiano of the Daily News for the original reporting of this.