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Cruz backtracks after accusing Giants of phasing him out of offense

William Perlman / THE STAR-LEDGER

Victor Cruz has backtracked on his comments that he believed the New York Giants phased him out of the offense last campaign in order to make it easier to cut him this offseason.

Cruz tweeted Thursday that his words were misrepresented.

"I love the @Giants, they gave me a platform no one else did," Cruz wrote. I am forever grateful! I never said I was sabotaged, don't believe these headlines."

Cruz was released in February after seven seasons in New York. The wide receiver said earlier Thursday that he believed the Giants intentionally stopped throwing his way.

"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,'" Cruz said, according to Ryan Wilson of CBS Sports. "They don't want me here anymore.' 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.

"If I am a 1,000-yard guy, they're like 'why are you cutting Cruz? He just 1,000 yards and five or six touchdowns,'" Cruz continued. "That doesn't make sense.' But if I have 500 yards or whatever the case may be, it's a little easier on the fans."

Giants head coach Ben McAdoo said there was "no accuracy" to Cruz's claims, according to Ralph Vacchiano of SNY.

Cruz - who was set to make $7.4 million in 2017 - finished the year with 586 yards on 39 catches and a single touchdown. However, his snaps did sharply decline over the course of the season.

He played in 90 percent of snaps over the first eight games, compared to 57 percent in the final eight, according to Jordan Heck of sportingnews.com, though that could be attributed to New York trying to get then-rookie Sterling Shepard more playing time.

Cruz reportedly agreed in principle to join the Chicago Bears after receiving minimal interest over the first few months of free agency.

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