Victor Cruz, Super Bowl Champion

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One-year upgrade requires financing, qualifying, device and upgrading in good condition after six months with half paid off. We continue this is at Guildshow coast to coast on CBS Sports Radio getting set for week three of the NFL season. That gets going in just a bit with the New York Giants and the San Francisco 49ers. Let's head out to the guest line right now and welcome in former Giants star wide receiver, Super Bowl champion, working on today on behalf of Captain Morgan and that is Victor Cruz. Vic, how you been? Appreciate the time. I've been good, man. No problem. Thanks for having me.

Well, thanks so much for coming on. So you know this. In the off season, Daniel Jones, right, coming off a playoff victory, got paid, is treated like he's the franchise quarterback. But there's one thing to be paid like a franchise quarterback.

There's another thing to play like it. When you watch Daniel Jones, do you see the franchise quarterback for the Giants? Well, after about six quarters. Yeah.

Yeah, I do. It took a game and a half to see it, to see him just get comfortable and to see the receivers get comfortable around him and to see the decision-making improve and things like that. But yeah, I definitely see a guy that has taken this team under his wing and it feels like his team. It feels like a guy that's making the right decisions out there, putting his teammates in opportunistic areas of the field to make plays, hitting his big target in Darren Waller a bunch of times, which was fun to see. It was just a fun brand of football that they got going out there right now.

Daniel Jones is at the forefront of it and really just proving, you know, why the Giants extended him and why he was worth the money that he was paid. So I think that second half was indicative of that. And that was just a matter of continuing that.

Right. Obviously, the task doesn't get any easier week to week, but I think he's prepared. I think he's comfortable in his position and where he is now and looking to build on what he did in the second half of last week's game. You had one of the all-time great underdog stories to see what Isaiah Hodgins continues to do week in and week out.

Just how do you process that? I'm a huge fan of Isaiah Hodgins, man. And the guy's just a baller. He just understands how to get open.

And some guys, you know, may not be fast or may not be big or may not be all of those things, but some guys just know how to get open. And I think he's one of those guys that can help this receiving corps, can help this team be better. And look, we haven't had much depth at the wide receiver position in years past. So to have, you know, real depth there now with guys that can play and guys that are viable assets to this team is just a fun place to be.

I think those roles will get defined as the season progresses. But I think Hodgins is the guy that can help us and help this team overall. When you look at Jalen Hyatt picked in the third round, had that big catch to open up the second half. He had a great career at Tennessee. We also have a football player he could be last year. Just what type of football player do you see?

I see a very, very highly talented guy. I think a guy that can be, you know, a top five receiver in this league if his opportunity arises. I think he has all the intangibles. I think he can run as fast as Justin Jefferson. He reminds me of him and his stride length and his, you know, long arms and his ability to go up and catch the football.

I think he has all of those things. And I've been watching him obviously in camp prior to the season starting and seeing all of that and seeing his confidence. When he's running routes out there, he doesn't look like a rookie. He looks like a guy that understands route concepts, understands how to run those routes and get himself open. So it's going to be fun to watch him this year, kind of mature throughout the year and see just how many plays he can make and how good he can be for this team. I'm excited to watch. Victor Cruz here with us.

We'll talk about Captain Morgan and the great work he's doing with them once again in just a bit. Saquon Barkley not going to play tonight with the ankle injury. We all know running backs, right?

They're not getting rewarded financially. And now Saquon is playing on that final year of that contract, right? They found a way to give him a little bit more money, hopefully, if he reaches the incentives. When you look at Saquon, do you feel like he's still in the Giants' long-term plan or is it just the state of the running back position where it's the great unknown? No, I think obviously from a playing perspective, right? From an on-field perspective, of course, he's in the plans of what the Giants do. Of course, he's part of the game plan and the future of what they have going on because of his ability and his talent. And we saw that, you know, this past week, the things he does with the football in his hands and the things that he doesn't when he doesn't have the ball. Like when he's just getting fakes, how he garners the attention of the entire defense that you have to account for where he is. And that opens up so many other things out there on the football field.

So I think he's accounted for. I think he's a guy that's part of the Giants' future. It just sucks that the running back position, you know, especially prior to the season, they aren't helping themselves. You know, Nick Chubb has an unfortunate injury. Saquon Barkley has an injury. Running back for the Ravens is out for the season with the Achilles. Like it's just, you know, it's just almost proving the owners right in terms of their stance on the injury rate on running backs and not wanting to pay them what they're worth. And it just it's a tough spot to be in as a running back in the NFL nowadays. But I think they just got to keep plugging forward and keep playing and keep proving their worth and keep trying to keep themselves and their morale high, even though they know that they're putting their lives on the line out here and their bodies on the line each and every week.

And may not get compensated for it the way they see fit. Victor Cruz here with us. Whenever we talk about the best wide receiver in the NFL now, three names immediately come to mind. It's Justin Jefferson, Tyreke Hill, Devante Adams. Some people still put Jamar Chase in that conversation, even though he's off to a slow start. But we all know the player that he is.

For you, I think it's a difficult question. When you watch football, who do you think is the best wide receiver? Oh, man, it's tough to just pick one because, you know, all those receivers your name brings so many different things and so many different skill sets. But to me, it's it's got to be Tyreke Hill for me. I mean, the things that he does running, you know, route running wise, the way you can't even it doesn't matter what covers you play, like he can outrun it. He can also when you think he's going to go deep, he can break it down and still catch the ball short and run that for a big game. I mean, as I just think about defensive coordinators trying to prepare for something like that and how difficult that may be.

And what type? Yeah. Like what type of defensive scheme can you even devise? And oh, not to mention, he's got a pretty good receiver number two over there. Jalen Waddle on the other side, who both of those guys can easily go for two thousand yards each.

And that's not far fetched. It sounds like video game numbers, but those guys can absolutely go for fifteen hundred plus yards this year, each of them. And that's just such a great place for to a ton of our lower to be in because he has guys that he can just sit back and know that they're going to get open. But Tyreke Hill kind of stands out to me and just being able to do it all. Run deep, you know, short routes, screens, you know, just being the fastest one of the fastest guys, if not the fastest under his own, you know, in his own right. One of the fastest guys in the entire league.

So you just bring so much to the game. He's hard to stop. You know, on a national show, there isn't a day that goes by where we don't talk about the Cowboys. They're off to this crazy to a no start where they're blowing out teams. But then with that being said, we've seen the Cowboys the last two years back to back 12 win seasons and come up small in the playoffs. I know you don't like the Cowboys, but in terms of them on the field this year, you started to say, man, they're going to be a big problem.

Yeah, I mean, for sure. I think I was feeling that way last year a little bit because you kind of see that defense, you see them coming together. You see all the weapons they've added offensively as well. And that Prescott being a veteran now taking that next step as a quarterback, like he knows the pressure. I mean, if you think there's pressure playing in New York, there's also pressure playing with that star in your helmet in Dallas as well.

And he understands that. And and I think, you know, when you watch them blowing teams out, I was unfortunate. It was my team in week one, but just watching them and then Michael Parsons is just an absolute animal. I mean, he's just like getting to the quarterback. He's lining up all over the field. He can play any position.

He's just one of those jack of all trades kind of guys that just change the complexion of any game once he gets going. So all of those things culminating, I think the Cowboys should have a pretty big year. I hate that they're in our division, obviously. But I think they have all the tools on paper, at least, and through the first two games to be really, really good. Are the Niners to you the best team in the NFL right now, or do you go someone else?

I'm definitely going to 49ers. I feel like defensively from top to bottom, they just have it. And offensively with with Purdy and just Debo and Christian McCaffrey, I mean, they got the exact players that they wanted to run Kyle Shanahan's offense effectively.

And that's scary. And obviously, what later today or Thursday, you know, my my Giants play them on Thursday night and it's going to be fun to watch. But that team is just clicking on all cylinders and they're playing with confidence. And teams that play like that this early in the season are typically tough to stop. What advice would you give, by the way, Victor Cruz to Justin Fields? Because he's struggling right now.

He's thinking too much. I don't know if you saw the comments yesterday through the coaching staff under the bus, then had to do the walk it back after press conference saying, oh, the media took him out of context, blah, blah, blah. When you have a young player struggling in a market like Chicago, that's never had a quarterback.

The advice you give is what? I think is just continue to stick to what you know, continue to stick with like the grind, the work, the work ethic of it, the watching film, understanding what you did wrong, spending extra time on the field, correcting those mistakes, visualizing the plays that you can make out there while you're watching film. I think he needs to kind of go back to square one a little bit and kind of recalibrate and understand to make the best decision when he has the football in his hands and and make the big play when it's there or make the opportunity to make the big play when it's there. But don't force anything and don't try to make all the plays you can make in one series. Don't try to win the entire game in one play. I think he has to really understand what it's like to be, you know, bore me with completions. Just move the ball down the field efficiently. Give it to your running back when it's time or you run the football when you see an opening.

Right. You know, quarterback is all about decision making. And I think if he can find a way to make the right decisions through and through, he'll be better. And I think he has all the skills to do so. And it's just a matter of putting him in position to do that.

Last thing I'll ask you before we talk about Captain Morgan. If you were Garrett Wilson of the Jets, you go from having the high of Aaron Rodgers to now Zach Wilson. Would you be thinking to yourself, man, Joe Douglas has to go get me a new quarterback or is it just is what it is? And that's a tough place to be. And I think, you know, at this stage of the season, it's tough to go get a new quarterback and try to bring him up to speed and try to get him on the same page with Garrett.

That's going to be a few weeks before that can even happen. I think he's kind of has to, you know, work with what he's got. He's got to get in that room is that they've got to have immense conversation to make sure they're on the same page. Continue to work through things on the football field like it's going to take a concerned effort from everyone. All hands are on deck now for the Jets because of the injury to Aaron Rodgers. But Gary Wilson is a guy that has to get on the same page as Zach and Zach has to, you know, put his big boy pants on a little bit. He has another opportunity that's been given to him and it's up to him whether he squanders it or whether he rises up to the challenge. It starts to make the plays that they've been wanting him to make there for a few years. I know you love Captain Morgan, but working with them for a few years.

Tell me what you got cooking with them today. Yeah, I've been working with them for about three years now on top of the fan of the year experience, which you can go to go there and make and vote for those guys vote for yourself or or someone that you know that you feel like is an immense fan. You can go to Captain Morgan dot com slash fan of the year to go do that as well as follow the captain. Follow the captain.com isn't a new ad. You're going to start seeing ads, whether it's on your phones or on the TV screens. You're going to see a QR code. Make sure you hit that QR code and that will take you exactly to the page you need to get access to all of the adventures that we have coming up. And they're finally giving me a watch party after all of this time. And you have access to to getting tickets to that watch party if you're lucky. And who knows, there might be some surprise guests that join me at the house party and some different things. So just tune in to follow the captain.com when you see that QR code on your screens, go ahead and click on that and you have access to all the adventure.

He's Victor Cruz on behalf of Captain Morgan. Sounds like great stuff, Vic. We always appreciate the time. Thank you. My pleasure, Zach.

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