Former Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz is not holding back on his excitement about the John Harbaugh hire. In a recent interview with Yahoo Sports Daily, Cruz made it clear he sees something in Harbaugh that he hasn’t felt in East Rutherford since the Tom Coughlin era ended.
“I love it, man. I think it was all continuing to bring the pedigree and the character of this football team back to the forefront,” Cruz said Monday. “And I love Brian Daboll, I love some of the other coaches that we’ve had. They were all good guys, but I think John Harbaugh immediately comes in and brings a certain pedigree and a certain character level to your team that we hadn’t had before, since Coach Coughlin, in my opinion.”
That’s a heavy comparison. Coughlin coached the Giants for 12 seasons, went 102-90, and won two Super Bowls. The man is basically a folk hero in New York. So when Cruz puts Harbaugh in that same sentence, he’s not just being polite. He’s making a statement.
Cruz doubled down on why Harbaugh’s arrival feels different. “As soon as a guy comes in with that winning pedigree, he’s been to the mountaintop, he understands what it takes to win, he knows what it’s like to have a franchise quarterback and how to get them on the right track mentally and get them going,” Cruz added.
The Giants are betting big on that exact idea. They hired Harbaugh to overhaul a franchise that’s been stuck in neutral for years. And the early optimism is real. The roster has pieces. The NFC East feels wide open. If Jaxson Dart pans out under Harbaugh — and that’s a big if — the Giants could look like a totally different team by October.
Training camp starts later this month, and the energy around the team is way different than it was a year ago. Cruz isn’t the only one feeling it. But he might be the loudest, and when a guy who caught passes from Eli Manning in two Super Bowl runs talks about championship pedigree, people tend to listen.
Leave a Comment