Victor Cruz is getting close.

“I’m about 80 percent there. I think it’s just a matter of continuing to build the strength for the last leg of it,” Cruz told The Post on Wednesday after the Giants’ first OTA practice. “I’ve been running some routes for about two weeks now, and there’s been no pain, no swelling or anything like that, which are all good signs.”

As his teammates worked, Cruz was nearby on a side field, running routes, running hard. Then he iced his surgically repaired right knee. He tore his patellar tendon Oct. 19 in Philadelphia and nearly is all the way back.

“Yeah, I am itching,” Cruz said. “I can’t lie. I am itching. I am running routes and feeling good, but I know there is still a process, and I am still a little ways away in terms of strength-wise and things like that. It feels good and watching those guys run routes and catch balls. I am definitely itching to get back out there.”

LB Devon Kennard (ankle) and S Nat Berhe (calf) did not practice. Cooper Taylor and rookie second-round pick Landon Collins lined up as the starting safeties. … DE Robert Ayers hurt his left ankle and knee and spent several minutes on the side, flexing his left leg, before getting carted off. A source said Ayers did not sustain any structural damage. “Things look good,” the source said.

DE Jason Pierre-Paul has not yet signed his franchise tender, which would pay him $14.8 million this season, and he is not participating in the offseason program. Coach Tom Coughlin said he has communicated with Pierre-Paul and said he “expects’’ him to attend the mandatory mini-camp June 16-18.

“The question that was asked of me was: Do I expect him to be here? And I said, ‘Yes,’ ” Coughlin said. “It is not hopeful. It is I expect him to be here. Could it be that he won’t be here? That could happen, sure.”

Odell Beckham Jr., coming off a star-making rookie year said, “I definitely expect to receive a lot more attention’’ this season from opposing defenses. “But it’s not going to work,’’ he said, citing the other weapons in the passing game.