Victor Cruz hoping for NFL return, willing to move on if no interest in 2018

NEW YORK -- Former New York Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz continues to train with the hope of keeping his playing career alive. He has set an undisclosed date later this year for when if he remains unsigned he will retire.

Cruz was cut last summer by the Chicago Bears and did not play in 2017. He said there was some interest from teams before the NFL draft but nothing serious during OTAs or since.

The former Pro Bowler is hoping for one last chance.

"I just love the game. I think I can still play," Cruz said Tuesday at the BTIG Charity Day event in Manhattan, where he participated for his Victor Cruz Foundation. "I don't want to exhaust all of that before I fall off."

Cruz wouldn't say when his final decision would come, but it's expected to be this summer if there is no offer.

"Once that deadline comes, if nothing has happened, I'll hang them up," he said.

"Probably around training camp time and then we'll go from there."

The 31-year-old Cruz spent the first seven years of his career with the Giants. All 303 catches, 4,945 yards and 25 touchdowns came with the team that signed him as an undrafted free agent out of UMass in 2010.

He won a Super Bowl and made the Pro Bowl in 2011, when he finished with a career-best 1,536 yards.

Cruz's career was derailed when he tore the patellar tendon in his right knee during a 2014 game in Philadelphia. He never returned to his previous form after the injury.

He's kept busy in his post-playing career working with his foundation, in Hollywood and using his off-field connections and hobbies in fashion and entertainment. Cruz hosted MTV's "The Challenge: Champs vs. Pros" last year.

"I'm busier now than when I was actually playing," he said. "So it's kind of two-fold, because you kind of get in that groove of not playing.

"But I've been working out, staying in shape. We'll see what happens."