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NFL

Giants release Cruz, Jennings in cap-saving cuts

The New York Giants released wide receiver Victor Cruz and running back Rashad Jennings on Monday, creating significant salary-cap space by parting ways with two veteran members of their offense.

Cruz, an undrafted free agent from nearby Paterson, New Jersey, described his seven-year stint with the Giants as an “amazing journey.”

Ranking
Targets 71 48th
Rec. 39 49th
Rec. TD 1 T-50th
— ESPN Stats & Information

“I pretty much grew up in front of the eyes of this entire organization,” Cruz said as part of a statement released by the team. “The Giants fan base, the community, my hometown, my family. I grew up there. It’s very much a family atmosphere and it’s very much like leaving your family. That’s what it feels like. I did some great things there.”

Cruz, 30, is 2½ years removed from major knee surgery and would have counted for $9.4 million against the Giants’ salary cap in 2017. New York frees up $7.5 million in cap space with his release.

Jennings would have counted $3,062,500 against the cap in 2017. Releasing him frees up $2.5 million in cap space.

Giants general manager Jerry Reese described Cruz as “one of the great stories in the National Football League.”

After spending most of his rookie season on injured reserve, Cruz burst onto the scene with back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons in 2011 and 2012, and he caught a touchdown pass in the Giants’ Super Bowl XLVI victory. But he has struggled to regain that form since suffering a torn patellar tendon in October 2014. He missed the entire 2015 season and had just 39 catches for 586 yards and a touchdown this past season.

Cruz’s role diminished as he fell behind Odell Beckham Jr. and Sterling Shepard on the Giants’ depth chart in 2016.

“He came in here and earned everything that he’s gotten,” Reese said in the Giants’ statement. “It has been amazing to see him grow from an undrafted free agent to a Pro Bowl player and one of our go-to guys during the Super Bowl XLVI run. He will always be one of the great Giants.”

Cruz took a significant pay cut to return to the Giants last season. He still made $5.4 million and wanted to return to the team that signed him as a free agent out of UMass in 2010.

“There are so many experiences, times and moments that I shared in that building with that team in that jersey,” Cruz said. “Those can’t be replaced or forgotten. I’m happy I have those moments to look back on.”

Jennings, 31, averaged just 3.3 yards per carry last season, his third with the Giants. He rushed for a career-high 863 yards in 2015.

“It’s an honor to play here, playing for a team that has so much history, a team that falls under great leadership and high character,” Jennings said in the statement. “In the mecca of everything, the relationships I’ve built are priceless. The people, the fans, teammates, ownership, I’ve been blessed to play with the Giants and see that side of the NFL. I have nothing but good things to say.”

ESPN’s Jordan Raanan contributed to this report.

NFL

Source: 49ers likely to hire Saleh as new DC
4:11 PM ET

  • Adam CaplanESPN Insider

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    • Covered the NFL for 15 years
    • Previously with Scout.com and FoxSports.com
    • Appears on SportsCenter, NFL Insiders, NFL Live

San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan is expected to hire former Jacksonville Jaguars linebackers coach Robert Saleh as his defensive coordinator, a source told ESPN.

Saleh, 38, coached the Jaguars linebackers for the past three seasons.

Saleh, who worked with Shanahan during their time with the Houston Texans, interviewed for the 49ers defensive coordinator job over the weekend.

Another source told ESPN that 49ers head-coaching candidate Tom Cable had Saleh on his list of potential assistant coaches had Cable gotten the job. Cable and Saleh worked together with the Seattle Seahawks for three seasons.

NFL

Brandon LaFell was Bengals' best FA signing in '16; Will they go big in '17?

It’s only a few weeks until the 2017 free agency period begins, and there’s a question that’s been asked often: Will the Cincinnati Bengals be active this year?

For those looking for a big splash in 2017, prepare to be disappointed.

The Bengals have ample cap room, but they also have three big free agents of their own to re-sign (Andrew Whitworth, Kevin Zeitler and Dre Kirkpatrick). They’re also likely in line for one of their biggest draft classes in recent memory.

Brandon LaFell finished second among Bengals receivers in receiving yards with 862 last season. Frank Victores/AP Photo

Compensatory picks haven’t been announced yet, but the Bengals could potentially get three or four picks in return for losing Marvin Jones, Mohamed Sanu, Andre Smith and Reggie Nelson in free agency last year.

The Bengals have already been preparing as if they’ll have a large draft class. Considering they’re a team that tends to keep all or most of it’s draft picks for at least the first season or two, they simply won’t have the room for a big free agent haul.

The Bengals prefer to draft and groom their players rather than go the free agency route.

Consider the 2016 roster: According to ESPN Stats and Information, as of Jan. 30, the Bengals had 43 drafted players on their roster and an additional 15 who had been signed as an undrafted free agent out of college (the most notable of those being Pro Bowl linebacker Vontaze Burfict).

Only nine players on the roster were signed as free agents, the most notable of those being linebacker Karlos Dansby and receiver Brandon LaFell.

LaFell was given an incentive-laden one-year deal with a cap hit of $2.4 million. He ended up hitting all of his incentives and finishing second among the Bengals receivers in receiving yards (862) and first in receiving touchdowns (6). LaFell played well enough that he will likely be a priority to re-sign in 2017.

Dansby also signed a similar one-year deal and figured heavily into the linebacker rotation.

Both were low-risk, high-ward options who contributed a significant amount of playing time.

So why are the Bengals so averse to free agency? They actually aren’t — they just prefer to stay out of the frenzy of the first-day signings and instead bolster their roster with more mid-tier free agents.

The Bengals feel free agency statistics don’t favor putting a significant investment into one player that hasn’t come up through their system. They feel that some players, particularly those who have come from struggling teams, have years of bad habits coached through other systems that are hard to break.

For a team like Cincinnati, which relies heavily on continuity with its coaching staff, that’s a big sticking point.

Bengals coach Marvin Lewis once made that point to ESPN in a 2016 interview.

“In the heat of the battle, they revert to what they know, and that’s the hard thing if they’re not trained through your system,’ he said. “When you play on bad teams you think you have to do something supernatural to make a play happen. No, just do your job. If you do your job and the other 10 guys do their job, you’re going to be OK.”

Don’t expect the Bengals to deviate from that philosophy this year. Though they might go after a mid-range free agent or two, it’s unlikely they’ll be making a big splash when free agency opens in March.

NFL

Former Cardinals WR Michael Floyd was surprised by release

TEMPE, Ariz. — Former Arizona Cardinals receiver Michael Floyd didn’t expect to get cut after he was arrested on charges of driving under the influence and failure to obey a police officer in mid-December, he said Sunday in his first in-depth public comments about the incident and the subsequent fallout during an interview on ESPN Radio’s “Weekend Observations.”

Speaking with former Notre Dame teammate Mike Golic Jr. and Jon “Stugotz” Weiner, Floyd said he expected some sort of punishment to be coming from the Cardinals, but never thought the team would release him.

“It hurt actually,” Floyd said. “It sucked, but I knew something was going to happen, but I did not actually think I was going to get released at all.

Michael Floyd on joining the Patriots: “The whole team took me in like I’ve been playing there since Week 1. The whole team is positive and encouraging people.” Mike Reiss / ESPN

“When I did, obviously because of the decision that I made, they made that decision. I went home from work and I felt bad about everything. I felt bad from the beginning, knowing I was in trouble, and I knew there was going to be some punishment. I just felt terrible.”

Floyd showed remorse throughout the interview, at one point saying he “100 percent” wished the incident didn’t happen so he could’ve stayed in Arizona for the remainder of the season instead of going to New England and winning the Super Bowl (he was a healthy scratch for the game).

“That feeling is great knowing that you can stay on one team for your whole career, so obviously it was heartbreaking the stuff that happened,” Floyd said. “If I could go back, definitely I would love to be where I was.”

Floyd was winding down the final year of his rookie contract when he was released.

Floyd was found unconscious behind the wheel of his running vehicle at a Scottsdale intersection early on the morning of Dec. 12, police said. Floyd’s black Cadillac Escalade sat through at least two green-light cycles with him passed out behind the wheel. Officers barricaded his SUV between their cars as they prepared to wake him up, according to the police report detailing the arrest. The SUV’s engine was running and Floyd’s foot was on the brake, the report said.

“I made a dumb decision to drive and I thought I was OK and I fell asleep,” Floyd said. “I think the whole world knows what happened after that: a dumb decision one individual makes. You learn from it and move on.”

Floyd said coach Bruce Arians informed him of his release on Dec. 14, two days after his arrest. When Floyd was asked if he thought Arians agreed with the team cutting him, Floyd said Arians always liked him and that he didn’t think Arians felt he needed to be released.

“I don’t think there was ever a negative thing between me and him,” Floyd said. “I think I had a good place with him.”

Floyd added: “I have tremendous respect for Bruce — B.A. He’s been a great coach to me my whole time there. Always a straight-forward coach, which I really loved. He came up to me and told me what the decision was from upstairs. I took it with a grain of salt and moved on.”

A day after getting cut on Dec. 14, Floyd was claimed by the Patriots.

He was sitting at home when his agent called to inform him of New England’s move. Floyd said he then put on the Pharrell Williams song “Happy” on repeat and played it throughout his house that day. He took a red-eye flight from Phoenix to the Northeast. When he landed at 5:30 a.m. the next day, Floyd said the temperature was about 20 degrees.

Shortly after arriving Dec. 16 at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts, Floyd attended his first meetings with the Patriots and met with coach Bill Belichick, who told Floyd his incident was in the past and he wanted Floyd and the team to move past it.

“It was all positive things once I got there,” he said. “The whole team took me in like I’ve been playing there since Week 1. The whole team is positive and encouraging people.”

Floyd was inactive for New England’s Week 15 games, but played in the Patriots’ Week 16 and Week 17 wins against the Jets and Dolphins, respectively. Floyd caught one pass for six yards against the Jets and three for 36 yards and a touchdown against the Dolphins. He followed that up with one catch for nine yards in an AFC divisional win against Houston, but was inactive for the AFC Championship Game and Super Bowl.

After the Patriots won Super Bowl LI against Atlanta, Floyd found himself caught in a social media upheaval after tweeting a screen shot of him kissing the Lombardi Trophy from the TV broadcast.

Floyed followed that tweet with a tweet two days later after realizing he was on the receiving end of animosity from “just negative random people … probably most Arizona people,” he said, who thought he didn’t deserve to win a Super Bowl after his December incident.

“They just think that I’m not sorry for what I did or I disrespected Arizona,” Floyd said. “I made a mistake. I’m sorry for what I did and I’m moving forward, and I think some people don’t want me to be successful.

“I think that’s just life. There’s just people who don’t want people to succeed.”

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