The salsa is no more. At least not with the Giants.
The team released popular wide receiver Victor Cruz, the team announced Tuesday, marking the end of one of the more entertaining and improbable careers in Giants history.
The team also released running back Rashad Jennings.
Cruz began as an undrafted free agent in 2010, emerged as a superstar on a Super Bowl-winning team in 2011 with his trademark touchdown dance, missed nearly two full seasons of football because of knee and calf injuries, then returned to the field in 2016. He was due to earn $6.4 million in base salary in 2017 and $7.4 million in 2018 on his contract with the Giants. The team will save $7.5 million against the 2017 salary cap by releasing him.
"No long paragraph for all to read, just simply THANK YOU!," Cruz wrote Monday in an Instagram post of a photo of him holding the Vince Lombardi trophy after Super Bowl XLVI. "To the [at sign]nygiants organization and to the amazing fans that have watched me grow up in front of their eyes. THANK YOU!!"
Cruz, 30, caught 39 passes for 586 yards and a touchdown in 2016, his first season back from a torn patellar tendon two years ago. He was the team's third receiver behind Odell Beckham Jr. and rookie Sterling Shepard.
Cruz said several times during the offseason that he understood the business side of the sport and was prepared to play elsewhere. He remained hopeful, though, that he would remain with the Giants.
"I want to stay in blue," he said last week. "Pictures on Instagram would look different with another jersey on."
Cruz will become a free agent. He has always said that if his Giants career ended this offseason it would not be the end of his NFL career and he'd be willing to play elsewhere.
Jennings, 31, had 181 carries for 593 yards and three touchdowns in 13 games in 2016 but lost snaps to rookie Paul Perkins late in the season. He had 543 carries for 2,095 yards and 10 touchdowns in three seasons with the Giants.
Jennings was set to make $3 million in 2017, ESPN reported. The move reportedly saves $2.5 million in cap space.
