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Giants quarterback Eli Manning said this week that he’s excited about what he’s seen from second-round pick Sterling Shepard and compared the wide receiver to “a young Victor Cruz.”

Victor Cruz 1.0 won’t turn 30 until November, but back-to-back knee and calf injuries have kept him from playing in a game since early in the 2014 season so one can be forgiven for thinking about what comes next at wideout for the Giants. Cruz said Tuesday that he sees the similarities between himself and Shepard, although he still includes himself in discussions of a receiver group that he thinks holds great potential.

“I think it’s great,” Cruz said, via the New York Daily News. “I think it’s just an added bonus, an added weapon for us to use, for Eli to have. Continue to cultivate him and have more guys that [are] able to make plays and do some big things with the football in their hands. … I think we can be great.”

For that to happen, Cruz will need to be healthy. He called himself 100 percent last month and is still working on a “pitch count,” something he says will remain the case until the training staff says otherwise. He “feels really good right now,” though, and said he has no doubt that he’ll be on the field with Manning and Shepard when the regular season gets underway.