New York Giants

Victor Cruz agrees to one-year deal with Chicago Bears

Published May. 25, 2017 2:47 p.m. ET

Cameron DaSilva

The Chicago Bears have one of the worst receiving units in the NFL, but it’s getting a bit of a boost from Victor Cruz. The veteran wide receiver has reached an agreement on a one-year deal with the Bears, ending a brutally long wait on the free-agent market.

https://twitter.com/ChicagoBears/status/867814113732374528

Cruz announced the news on Instagram.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BUhor2eBvq7/

Cruz returned to the New York Giants last season after missing all of 2015 and most of 2014, catching 39 passes for 586 yards and one touchdown in 15 games. He got off to a great start but struggled down the stretch. In the final eight games, he caught only 15 passes for 255 yards, including two games in which he had two or fewer targets.

The veteran receiver thinks he knows why his production was so limited in the second half of the season, blaming it on the Giants. He said this week that the team essentially sabotaged his second half to make it easier when it came time to cut him.

“I felt it all year long. Halfway through the year I’m ballin’, the other half I’m not getting the ball. And you’re just like, ‘What’s going on?’ It was like ‘OK, I see what’s happening. They don’t want me here anymore.’” Cruz said on "The Breakfast Club" morning radio show. “A lot of people probably don’t know this … Let’s say I played well — was a 1,000-yard receiver last year — it would have been more difficult from a fan perspective to cut me.”