INDIANAPOLIS — So many of the questions directed his way at the NFL Scouting Combine prompted an almost bewildered — and amused and delighted — response from Howard Cross III.
Which NFL team did he root for growing up in Paramus, N.J.?
“The Giants, obviously,” Cross said. “I mean, like, all my friends, you know, it’s Jersey, man. It’s, like, the whole thing.”
What was like picking a football team living with your father, Howard Cross, who played 13 seasons for the Giants?
“Yeah, I can’t be in a Giants household and start rooting for the Eagles,” the younger Cross said. “If I said the words, ‘J-E-T-S,’ I would have gotten kicked out. But it’s also Jersey. Jersey is a small area. It’s either the blue or the green, so I was in a blue area, solidly Giants stuff everywhere you go. I was indoctrinated with the Giants.”
What is it like in Paramus?
“We are not all angry Italians, surprisingly,” he said.
What do you think it would feel like to get drafted by the Giants?
“I mean, obviously, I’ll be absolutely blessed to get any opportunity, but you know, it’s just like a legacy thing,” Cross said. “I think it would be kind of cool. I would definitely be cracking jokes and stuff like that.”
Cross could not stop smiling as he considered all this.
He is an undersized — 6-foot-1, 285 pounds — defensive tackle from Notre Dame, and the expectation is he will hear his name called out on Day 3 of the NFL draft as a late-round pick.
In 66 games (35 starts) for the Fighting Irish, he had 169 tackles, 11 sacks and three forced fumbles.
“I’m sure that any team or anybody around kind of looks at me and the first thing they say is, ‘Oh, who is this short dude?’ ” Cross said. “When I come off the ball, yeah, I do have a chip on my shoulder. I want everybody to know that I can and am competing against anybody I play with.”
Cross was born in 2001, which was the last year his father was in the NFL, retiring with a franchise-record 207 games in a Giants uniform.
Michael Strahan and Eli Manning have since surpassed him.
Howard Cross maintains his relationship with the Giants, working for the team as a broadcaster — making him a regular in the team facility, Giants Stadium and more recently MetLife Stadium.
He would regularly bring his son and twin sister, Isabella, with him to work on the sideline.
“They’ve hung out with everybody you could think of,” Howard Cross, 57, told The Post. “You’re part of the Giants, you’re part of a big family.”
Cross was a massive, mostly blocking tight end who won a Super Bowl with the Giants after the 1990 season. He was excited to offer a scouting report of his son.
“He has got great quickness, really strong hands,” Cross said. “Given a one-on-one situation, it’s kind of hard to block him because he’s got the leverage on people at 6-1. He’s got the speed. He’s gonna be a little bit of a problem in the league. If his want-to play is bigger than his height and weight, then he’ll be able to play anywhere.”
It should not be too big for the younger Cross, considering he has been around the NFL his entire life.
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“I didn’t know a lot about football when I was young,” Cross said. “It was like, ‘Oh my god, Eli Manning.’ I thought that was like the coolest person ever. Victor Cruz, you know what I mean? Those guys were kind of like my idols growing up.”
Asked if he remembered the Giants teams that won the Super Bowl after the 2007 and 2011 seasons, his face lit up.
“To be completely honest with you, this is just a surreal feeling,” Cross said. “I’m not gonna lie to you: I remember sitting in my house with my family, and I was in sixth grade or something like that. I watched the Giants beat Green Bay [in the NFC Championship after the 2007 season] to go on to the Super Bowl … and I just remember like, Oh man, like, I could never imagine being here, and now I got a real chance to be here. This is a crazy feeling right now.”
Father and son plan to watch the draft together in New Jersey.
“I think it’s pretty cool,” the older Cross said. “It was a long journey for him. I wanted him to play whatever sport he wanted to play and do whatever. He was a pretty good baseball player, pretty good lacrosse player. He’s like, ‘I want to play football.’ I was like, ‘Really?’ Once he started he was all-in the whole time. I was like, ‘Let’s have fun with it.’ ”