Recently, retired New York Giants receiver Victor Cruz was picked by NFL Network’s Good Morning Football as one of the greatest undrafted free agent stories ever.
Cruz, of course, had his breakout season with the Giants in 2011, one year after signing with the team as an undrafted rookie. The salsa dancing king put up one of the greatest statistical seasons for a receiver in franchise history after earning his chance to play.
None of that would have been possible if Cruz didn’t get his shot to prove himself during the preseason in 2010 and 2011.
Cruz was an undrafted free agent feel good story out of UMass, which isn’t exactly a school known for breeding NFL players. It was his performance against the New York Jets during the 2010 that really put Cruz on the map, earning him a roster spot that year. However, it wasn’t until the following year that Cruz broke out for over 1,500 yards, but would we have even known his name if not for the preseason opportunity?
Last week, with the NFL announcing that there would be no preseason games in 2020, many were pounding the drum for the exhibition season to be discontinued. Cruz wasn’t having it.
Cruz responded to a tweet from ABC’s Ryan Field talking about the need for preseason games and how he wouldn’t exist without them.
Guys like me needed every bit of those preseason games.
— Victor Cruz (@TeamVic) July 27, 2020
It is pretty crazy to think about — if the COVID-19 pandemic happened in 2010 and there were no preseason games, the Giants likely cut Cruz. And worse yet, maybe he would have caught on with another team within the NFC East.
There will be plenty of players who will miss out on their shot at an NFL roster because of the lack of preseason games this season. Although Cruz is an outlier and one of the best UDFA ever to surface, the league is full of journeymen who end up earning spots on a roster after not getting drafted.
Whether or not it was the right move to cut the preseason completely is up for debate, but it’s hard to blame Cruz for his stance on the importance of preseason.
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