Ex-Giants star Victor Cruz retires from NFL, joins ESPN

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — The music has stopped playing in the NFL for Victor Cruz, but the former New York Giants star wide receiver promises that he isn't done dancing.

At 31, Cruz announced his retirement from the league Tuesday, informing The Record and NorthJersey.com shortly before officially making the news public with a video posted to Uninterrupted's YouTube channel. 

The Giants released Cruz in February 2017 after seven seasons during which he emerged as one of the franchise's most popular players. His salsa dancing in the end zone to celebrate touchdowns made him famous, as did his remarkable rise to incredible heights as a Super Bowl champion with the Giants in 2011.

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Cruz had been a Giants fixture since August of 2010, when the undrafted rookie from UMass who grew up in the shadow of the Meadowlands stunned everyone with a breakthrough performance in a preseason game against the Jets. He rose to stardom with the Giants, celebrating his touchdowns with his trademark salsa dance and winning a Super Bowl in the 2011 season.

Only Calvin Johnson and Brandon Marshall had more 100-yard receiving games than Cruz from 2011 to Week 6 of the 2014 season when the latter tore the patellar tendon in his right knee during a game against the Eagles in Philadelphia.

"I'll always be blue 80 in New York in my opinion, in my mind, in my heart," Cruz told The Record and NorthJersey.com in May after signing with the Bears. "To me, the blue 80 jersey will always say Cruz on the back of it, New York City. I hope the fans don't lose that. That's where I was born, essentially, from a football perspective, and (the Giants and the New York City area) will always be home, always be family."