Victor Cruz could give 1 of these 5 teams a boost in 2017

Victor Cruz didn’t garner much interest in the weeks after he was released by the only NFL franchise he’d called home. Now, with the 2017 NFL draft come and gone, the former Giant is starting to pick up traction on the free agent market.

The veteran wide receiver has scheduled visits with the Bears and Jaguars, two teams in dire need of offensive help. There’s also reportedly mutual interest between Cruz and the Ravens, another team with limited depth at wideout. This all comes after a potential pairing between the receiver and the Panthers fizzled out.

Despite a deep crop of receiving talent entering the league from the NCAA ranks, Cruz has once again become an asset at a time where wideout depth is more important that ever. He’ll have several questions to answer when he steps on the field, as age and a pair of leg injuries have sapped him of the explosiveness that made him one of the game’s top playmakers.

While those concerns were too much for the Giants to retain him at a $7.5 million cap hit, he could be a valuable pickup for the following five teams.

Cruz’s output has dropped as he ages and continues to recover from the injuries that cost him his 2015 (and most of 2014) seasons. Still, he provided an explosive presence in the Giants’ aerial attack last fall. He averaged 15.0 yards per reception in 2016, a mark that ranked 15th in the NFL and ahead of deep threats like A.J. Green and Mike Wallace.

His ability to stretch defenses downfield would be a welcome addition for a Ravens offense that ranked 30th last season in yards per catch. Wallace was supposed to be Baltimore’s deep threat, but the team’s lack of receiving depth pushed him into a No. 1 receiver role. Bringing Cruz in would give Joe Flacco an extra target to take some of the pressure from the 31-year-old’s shoulders, freeing him up to fly downfield and do some real damage for an inefficient offense.

An extra benefit for Cruz, should he sign with Baltimore? The Ravens are the most playoff-ready team of any of the receiver-needy squads to which he’s been linked.

The Bears wide receiving corps is a grim welcome for whomever emerges as the team’s starting quarterback in 2017 — either Mike Glennon or Mitchell Trubisky. A limited depth chart has gotten even worse after the team allowed No. 1 wideout Alshon Jeffery to leave in free agency and released Eddie Royal this spring. As a result, the team’s top receivers headed into summer practices are former undrafted free agent Cameron Meredith, former first-round draft pick Kevin White — who has played four games in two years as a pro — and former Titan Kendall Wright.

A player like Cruz would add talent and stability to a rebuilding roster. The longtime Giant is not the downfield threat he once was, and his declining catch rate — the percentage of balls he’s caught when targeted has decreased every year he’s been in the league — could frustrate whichever quarterback takes the reins in Chicago. However, he’s also a strong locker room presence who carries none of the baggage the since-shed Jeffery brought to Soldier Field.

General manager David Caldwell is taking a renewed approach to surrounding fourth-year quarterback Blake Bortles with talent in 2017. Since adding or retaining players like Chris Ivory and Marcedes Lewis failed to pan out last offseason, Caldwell turned to the draft instead. No. 4 overall pick Leonard Fournette could provide an Ezekiel Elliott-type safety valve in the backfield, while Dede Westbrook will give the club another athletic deep threat alongside Marqise Lee and Allen Robinson.

That’s a solid collection of young, exciting talent, but last year’s experience shows how relying on prospects can backfire. Consistency has been a significant problem for the Jaguars. Robinson regressed from a 1,400-yard receiver to a player who caught less than 50 percent of his targets in 2016. Lee had the best season of his young career, but there are no guarantees his 800-yard campaign won’t be an outlier when all is said and done.

Cruz would give Bortles a reliable option and additional deep threat in an offense loaded with them. Jacksonville is due for a big improvement in 2017 after suffering heaps of bad luck last fall. A veteran receiver like Cruz could be an important piece of a bounce-back season, and it would reunite him with Tom Coughlin, his former coach who’s now the Jaguars’ executive VP of football operations.

The Rams got little production from their wide receiving corps, but a big part of that turnout was thanks to the Case Keenum-Jared Goff tandem at quarterback. They added Bills free agent Robert Woods this offseason to help boost a depleted depth chart and added the NCAA’s most prolific wideout in the draft, but still need plenty of help to boost their aerial attack.

Like in Chicago and Jacksonville, Cruz would add a reliable veteran presence to help a young passer develop. He’d have a clear path to playing time as well, having to beat out Woods, rookie Cooper Kupp, and the perpetually underused Tavon Austin for snaps in LA.

The Browns failed to re-sign Terrelle Pryor after his breakout year and appear unlikely to get Josh Gordon on the field this fall. Their current starters are the underwhelming duo of Corey Coleman and Kenny Britt, and while the team has eight other receivers currently under contract, their depth chart looks like a list of randomly generated names.

Cruz could head to Ohio and help DeShone Kizer find his place in the league, but signing with the Browns has traditionally been the last gasp in a veteran’s career.