'Be the next great one': Victor Cruz, Hakeem Nicks chart the path for Giants' Malik Nabers

EAST RUTHERFORD - This can be your life as a New York Giant, Malik Nabers.

"I walked into a restaurant in Summit, New Jersey, the other day and a couple guys in the back corner, they start yelling, ‘Cruuuz,’" former Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz recalled with a laugh for NorthJersey.com by phone this week. "That’s going to be with me forever. It’s all that comes with playing in this town, playing at a high level and helping bring home that Lombardi. That sets players apart, brings a different aura to guys who have won that championship."

Cruz paused before adding: "That’s what is out there for Malik Nabers to achieve as a Giant. It’s all there to make his own legacy and be the next great one. I think he has all the tools, man, to be great."

Cruz once embodied what Nabers wants to be with the Giants. Still does to some extent.

So does Hakeem Nicks, who along with Cruz and Mario Manningham emerged as the last great receiving trio that helped lead Big Blue to Super Bowl XLVI 13 seasons ago.

They're still living that legacy, even if the journey began from different starting points on the path to the NFL.

Nicks was the first-round pick. Cruz was the undrafted free agent and NFL long shot. Manningham was the third-round pick who never seemed to put everything together - that is, until he followed the lead of Nicks and Cruz on the way to an irreplaceable postseason performance, including one of the greatest catches in Super Bowl history along the left sideline inside Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

Nabers joins the Giants as the No. 6 overall selection in the draft with the promise of bringing the juice the way Odell Beckham Jr. did back in 2014. There was some hope Kadarius Toney, a first-round pick of Dave Gettleman and Joe Judge three years ago, could do the same, but his star faded quickly before being traded to Kansas City.

Cruz and Nicks with Manningham represent the standard that Beckham did not reach as a Giant - his Super Bowl ring came with the Los Angeles Rams two teams removed from Big Blue.

A championship standard

The Giants believe Nabers can change their offense with competitiveness, toughness and a rare electricity he was born with. He possesses the humility to handle all that comes with the position he now finds himself in, not to mention the confidence that he can convince others of that immense talent.

"Don’t jump on the wave. That’s my advice," Nicks said. "Don’t jump on the wave. Because when you ride it when it’s up, you better be able to take it when it goes down. Just play the game of football, just do what you do and what got you to this point."

There will be pressure to live up to expectations, and even more so with the Giants still fighting their way out from under the losing of the past decade.

When Nicks joined the Giants in 2009, the organization was two years removed from the greatest victory in franchise history in Super Bowl XLII. Cruz became a hometown hero as a rookie when he dominated Rex Ryan's Jets in the preseason, but did not play a regular season game until the following year.

'It's tough to play in this city'

In his 2011 debut against Washington, Cruz dropped the first Eli Manning pass that came his way and spent the next few days paying too much attention to unhappy fans on social media ready to ship him out of town.

“It's tough to play in this city, man, I’m not going to lie,” Cruz said. “But just hearing [Nabers] speak and seeing a little bit of his personality, I think he’s ready for it. Even though he’s a first round pick, I think he has to treat it like he’s an undrafted free agent. If he treats every single day like a learning tool, it’s going to work out to his benefit. If he tries to come out and attack the world, put everything on his shoulders and be the best player out there every day, it’ll get heavy for him and it’ll weigh on him. He’s so talented, that time will come. For right now, he’s going to make mistakes. He’s got to learn from them. Be a guy who thinks, ‘What am I going to achieve today to get better?’ With that mindset, it’ll go a long way to him getting to where I believe he can be.”

Nabers spent last weekend in Los Angeles at the NFLPA Rookie Premiere. He had breakfast with a handful of other star prospects with Jay-Z, Tom Brady and Michael Rubin, the head of Fanatics. The 20-year-old returned to the practice field for the start of Giants' OTAs (organized team activities) on Monday, getting his first chance to catch passes from quarterbacks Daniel Jones, Drew Lock and Tommy DeVito while impressing the veterans around him.

The Giants will be back on the field Thursday for the first OTA session open to the media.

“No stage is too big for him," Donald Fusilier, Nabers’ coach and mentor since he was 14, told NorthJersey.com. “I’ve never worried about Malik if he gets criticized or if there’s too much pressure, that he won’t be able to handle it. That’s not going to shake him because of the way he competes. He knows what’s important, and that’s doing anything he can to win.”

Nicks said he sees some of his own game in Nabers, the ability to make a catch and break tackles in order to shake free from defenders.

"Not one person is gonna bring him down," Nicks said.

"It doesn’t take long for you to see that he can do it all," Cruz added. "He can line up in the slot. He can run every route. He can take the top off. He can stop on a dime. He has a huge catch radius. You know, we haven’t seen something like this since Odell when he first burst onto the scene way back when."

The Giants are already plotting how the presence of Nabers can influence the entire operation, helping maximize the production and usage of Wan'Dale Robinson and Jalin Hyatt among others as head coach Brian Daboll, assistant head coach/offensive coordinator Mike Kafka and pass game coordinator/QB coach Shea Tierney move pieces all over the chess board within different concepts.

Before too long - likely even already - Nabers promises to be the undeniable centerpiece.

"There’s a confidence as a player you gain along the way that, I can change the game with everything I do, and it’s an incredible feeling, I’ve got goosebumps just thinking about it," Cruz said. "You grow to a point where you know, all it takes is one play – if they get me this deep ball, if they find me on this in-route, I can take it the distance and change the complexion of this game, I can change the energy of this game. I couldn’t wait for the opportunity to flip the script and that moment, it’s an addictive feeling that drives you. Everything I’ve seen from Malik Nabers, I believe he’s going to have that. He has that already from a college perspective, and now to have the chance to be that in the NFL, there’s nothing like it. We're all excited to see what he can do."

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Malik Nabers: Charting a path to NY Giants legacy on advice from icons