EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- As the New York Giants prepare to bolster their roster in next week's NFL draft, they're also hoping for bigger contributions from a couple of veterans who struggled last year with major injuries.
Giants GM Jerry Reese held forth on a variety of topics Thursday at his annual pre-draft news conference, and two of the players he was asked about were defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul and wide receiver Victor Cruz.
Pierre-Paul missed the first half of the 2015 season after losing his right index finger and severely damaging the rest of his right hand in a July 4 fireworks accident. He had just one sack in eight games and has admitted he was limited by the heavy club wrap he had to wear on his right hand. He had surgery following the season in an effort to help improve the flexibility in his remaining fingers and hopes to be able to play in 2016 without the club.
"Jason is a terrific football player, and we're hoping that the procedure that he had on his hand after the season will continue to feel better for him and he'll be able to play with that hand in the condition that it is, and we expect him to do that," Reese said. "It was really kind of a miracle for me that he played last year. He'll be even that much better now, we think."
Cruz hasn't played since tearing the patellar tendon in his right knee in a Week 6 game in Philadelphia in 2014. He had surgery to repair the knee at that time, but a pulled calf muscle suffered during training camp last summer cost him the entire 2015 season.
"So far, so good," Reese said of Cruz's recovery. "All of our doctors are pleased with his progress so far, and we're hoping that he'll be the Victor that we know. We're going to take it easy with him, obviously, and make sure that he's ramped up a little bit at a time, and when training camp comes around, we expect him to be full-go."
The Giants' wide receiver depth chart is loaded with question marks after Odell Beckham Jr. But while it would be very helpful for Cruz to come back and be the player he was before the injury, the Giants know they can't count on that. Even if the knee and calf are recovered enough to allow him to play, there's no way to know whether he can play the same way he used to play.
"He hasn't played in two years," Reese said. "He's probably more healthy now than he's probably been, obviously, in the last couple of years. But what we get from Victor will be a bonus, and we're hoping it's a great bonus for us."