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EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- New York Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz took another significant step Thursday in his recovery from last year's serious knee injury. Cruz passed the annual pre-camp conditioning test with the rest of his Giants teammates, which means he'll be able to work with the team when training camp practices begin Friday. "I'm sure we'll have to limit him and build him up, but he will be out there," Giants coach Tom Coughlin said. Cruz came to camp Thursday sporting a red Michael Jordan No. 45 Chicago Bulls jersey, which he said was no coincidence. Jordan wore that jersey when he returned to the NBA after his two-year baseball hiatus and famously scored 55 points against the Knicks in Madison Square Garden in his second game back. Cruz joked that the jersey called out to him from his closet Thursday morning, as he embarked upon the latest step in his own return to competitive action.  "Felt like it was a little symbolism for today," Cruz said. "When Jordan came back wearing the four-five, he wasn't playing with people."
Cruz tore the patellar tendon in his right knee in a Week 6 game in Philadelphia last year and missed the remainder of the season after having it surgically repaired. He has said his goal is to return in time for the Giants' Sept. 13 opener in Dallas, and Thursday he estimated himself as "93 percent" healthy. He said working out in pads in training camp practice would require "a different type of endurance" than his rehab has required so far. "So I've still got to develop that and take it one day at a time," Cruz said. Also passing the conditioning test was fellow receiver Odell Beckham Jr., who missed all of minicamp and a portion of organized team activities in June with a hamstring injury. Coughlin said the team would monitor Beckham's practice reps as well, but he's also expected to take part in at least some drills when practices begin Friday. Beckham missed all but the first day of training camp last year and the first four games of his rookie season with an injury to his other hamstring, but he recovered to catch 91 passes for 1,305 yards and 12 touchdowns in the final 12 games of the year.
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