Cruz is retiring from football to join ESPN as an NFL analyst, ESPN.com reports.

EDGE Analysis

Cruz said this past spring that he hoped to continue his playing career, but it was never a likely proposition after he failed to make the Bears' 53-man roster last year. Though serviceable for the Giants in 2016, he's never come close to the pre-injury form he displayed from 2011 to 2013 -- a stretch in which he averaged 79 receiving yards per game. Cruz went undrafted out of UMass in 2010, then burst onto the scene with 1,536 receiving yards in 2011 while helping the Giants win a Super Bowl. He retires at the age of 31, with each of his 303 career receptions coming in a Giants uniform.