Howard Edward Cross Jr. (born August 8, 1967) is an American former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player and current broadcaster. He spent 13 seasons as a

tight end The tight end (TE) is an offense (sports), offensive position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football. It is a hybrid that combines the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a receiver (football), receiv ...

for the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL), and was a member of two

Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual History of the NFL championship, league championship game of the National Football League (NFL) of the United States. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966 NFL season, 1966 (with the excep ...

teams,

Super Bowl XXV Super Bowl XXV was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Buffalo Bills and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion New York Giants to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for the ...

in 1991 and appearing in

Super Bowl XXXV Super Bowl XXXV was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion 2000 Baltimore Ravens season, Baltimore Ravens and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion 2000 New York Giants season, New York Giant ...

in 2001. Since 2007, he has served as a broadcaster for the

New York Giants radio network The New York Giants Radio Network is a broadcast radio network based in New York City, the official radio broadcaster of the National Football League's New York Giants. The network's radio broadcasts are currently flagshipped at WFAN, a station ow ...

, and a broadcaster for the

YES Network The Yankee Entertainment and Sports Network (YES) is an American pay television regional sports network owned by Yankee Global Enterprises (the largest shareholder with 26%), Main Street Sports Group (which owns 20%), Amazon (which owns 15% ...

Early life

Cross played football at New Hope High School in

New Hope, Alabama New Hope is a city in Madison County, Alabama, Madison County, Alabama, United States, and is included in the Huntsville-Decatur Combined Statistical Area. The population was 2,889 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. History Origina ...

. In college, he was a member of the

Fellowship of Christian Athletes The Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) is an international nonprofit Christian sports ministry based in Kansas City, Missouri, Kansas City. History FCA was founded in 1954 by Eastern Oklahoma State College, Eastern Oklahoma A&M basketball c ...

. He was drafted out of the

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, the Capstone, or Bama) is a Public university, public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of ...

in the

1989 NFL draft The 1989 NFL draft (also known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting) was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. The draft was held April 23–24, 1989, at the Marriott Marquis in Ne ...

by the

in the sixth round.

Career

Over his career, Cross played in a total of 207 games as a Giant, trailing only

Michael Strahan Michael Anthony Strahan ( ; born November 21, 1971) is an American television host, journalist, and former professional American football, football player. He played his entire 15-year professional career as a defensive end for the New York Gian ...

's 216 games, and

Eli Manning Elisha Nelson Manning (born January 3, 1981) is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 16 seasons with the New York Giants. A member of the Manning family, he is the youngest ...

’s 236 games. Cross won a

ring with the Giants in

when they defeated the

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East div ...

20–19. He was the only player on both the 1990 Giants team as well as the 2000 team that lost

to the

Baltimore Ravens The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team plays its home g ...

34–7. Although he was known more for his blocking expertise, he finished his career with 201 receptions for 2,194

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and 17

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Scoring a touchdown grants the team that scored it 6 points. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchd ...

NFL career statistics

Regular season

Playoffs

Post-playing career

After retiring, Cross moved into broadcasting. He has co-hosted the YES Network's ''This Week in Football'', as well as serving as color commentator alongside John Sterling on the network's Ivy League football telecasts. Cross is also a sideline reporter for the

New York Giants Radio Network The New York Giants Radio Network is a broadcast radio network based in New York City, the official radio broadcaster of the National Football League's New York Giants. The network's radio broadcasts are currently flagshipped at WFAN, a station ow ...

as well as an analyst on Giants First and 10. He has spent a great deal of time working with youth to help ensure that they stay in school. He currently resides in Northern New Jersey and is a commercial real estate broker in NY/NJ for Cushman & Wakefield; where he works closely with Global Chairman Bruce Mosler. His son, Howard Cross III, plays football for Notre Dame, and his daughter, Bella Cross, attends The University of Alabama

Honors College An honors program is an undergraduate program in an institute of higher education providing exceptional scholars with supplemental or alternative curricular and non-curricular programs, privileges, special access, scholarships, and distinguishe ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cross, Howard 1967 births Living people American football tight ends Alabama Crimson Tide football players NFL announcers New York Giants players Players of American football from Huntsville, Alabama YES Network