"It was the spring of 2010 and they were roommates at a Meadowlands hotel for more than a month, a couple of undrafted free agents, telling each other at night what they were going to do with the Giants if they ever got a chance. Nate Collins was a defensive lineman out of Virginia, Victor Cruz was a wide receiver out of UMass, a couple of dreamers trying to make it through Organized Team Activities, known as OTAs, and rookie mini-camps, make it to training camp in Albany and then somehow into the big time.

"Yeah, we talked about our dreams every single night when we'd get back to the room," Nate Collins was saying Tuesday, with the Jaguars now, having gone there from the Giants' practice squad. "We'd sit there at night and Vic and I, we'd map out how we were gonna get to where we wanted to go."