After a whirlwind season and the fallout of a championship, Victor Cruz cemented his role on the team last year. And rather than jockey for playing time or even a roster spot, the once-undrafted wide receiver enters taining camp as one of the go-to guys for the first time of his career.
Now the focus shifts to which player will be the next in line, and Cruz will be alongside watching and giving whatever help he can.
"I think it's a big opportunity for them," Cruz recently told Giants.com in reference to the other receivers. "I think you can kind of see the sense of urgency for them to kind of understand this offense for the younger guys and just to keep getting better and learning this offense and being as comfortable as possible. It's definitely important for them – one of those guys has to step up and be held responsible and held accountable throughout the regular season. So we'll see who steps up and we'll see how it goes."
While entering just his third season, Cruz has started to feel his leadership role blossom.
"A little bit, a little bit," he said. "I like to just let my play on the field kind of determine my leadership and kind of just be one of those guys that young guys can look up to and see how I carry myself and things of that nature. So I think I kind of naturally just step into that role and I think I've been flowing into it pretty well."
Meanwhile, Cruz said he still has his own improvements to make, including not letting last season be the pinnacle of his career.
"I'm just trying to remain consistent," Cruz continued. "I left a lot of catches out there, had a few drops from last year that I wasn't really happy with. So I'm just trying to go back and clean some of that stuff up, get more time catching balls with Eli [Manning]– building our timing, building our relationship just to make sure that those things that I did last year don't happen again this year."
QUICK HITS
>> Memory of Boston College's Jay McGillis lives on in the hearts of NY Giants coach Tom Coughlin and other loved ones. [Kevin Armstrong, New York Daily News]
Giants summer questionnaire: Defensive tackle Chris Canty. [Mike Garafolo, The Star-Ledger]
Summertime Blog Bits: Linebacker Greg Jones. [Patricia Traina, Inside Football]
PHOTOS: NFC rookies visited the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, last week. [NFL.com]
