When he arrived, Justin Pugh figured he could develop and acclimate and learn, surrounded by proven, experienced players with pedigree on the offensive line.

Pugh, as the Giants’ 2013 first-round draft pick, saw Chris Snee, a Pro Bowl right guard. He saw versatile David Diehl, a starter on two Super Bowl-winning teams. He saw Kevin Boothe and David Baas, starters on the championship team that won Super Bowl 46. He saw Will Beatty situated at left tackle. Pugh, taken with the 19th overall pick, would not be needed right away as a rookie.

Or so he thought.

Players fell by the wayside and Pugh ended up starting all 16 games at right tackle in his first NFL season. He lasted five years and only once enjoyed the company of a winning team.

Pugh, for the first time in what is now a seven-year career, faces the Giants on Sunday when his Cardinals arrive at MetLife Stadium. Pugh is the starting left guard, blocking for diminutive Kyler Murray the way he used to protect the regulation-sized Eli Manning.

Pugh misses much of what he was forced to leave behind with the Giants — his family, the fans, some of the team personnel that remains, Manning and Zak DeOssie, his beloved pizza places in New Jersey — and he adamantly refuses to feel slighted by how things went down with the team he never wanted to leave.

“It’s funny, when you look at it and you see the offensive line I came in with and after that first year they all were gone,’’ Pugh told The Post in a phone interview. “The Chris Snees, the David Diehls, the Kevin Booths, David Baas. It definitely was an older group and then we definitely weren’t prepared. We didn’t have enough guys at the offensive line position those following years and guys got thrown in, including myself.

“I wasn’t expected to be a starter day one and then I was thrown into that role at right tackle. You see what happened in New York. But I still love New York, I love the fans, there’s still a part of me in New York. I grew up in that city, so it’s definitely going to fun to come back. Gonna be all smiles on my part.’’

Dave Gettleman took over as general manager late in the 2017 season, inheriting a broken 3-13 roster, and showed no interest in re-signing Pugh, who hit free agency and struck gold in the Valley of the Sun with a five-year, $45 million contract. He started seven games for the 2018 Cardinals, who won only twice, before a sprained knee landed him on injured reserve. That was a bugaboo the Giants could not get past with Pugh – he started all 63 games he played in for the Giants, but missed 17 games in five seasons with assorted physical issues.

“I never try to go back and say ‘what if’ or ‘what could have happened,’’’ Pugh said. “We didn’t win enough games when I was in New York.’’

Pugh’s arrival coincided with a swoon the franchise has yet to escape. Upon arrival, Gettleman also turned his back on center Weston Richburg, a 2014 second-round pick, who signed a five-year, $47.5 million deal with the 49ers.

Two years after Pugh arrived, the Giants selected Ereck Flowers with the No. 9 overall pick in 2015, thrusting the line into further disarray. Pugh, Richburg and Flowers were supposed to be three pillars, but none made it to a second contract with the team that selected them so high in the draft.

Asked if his return triggers any feeling of bitterness, Pugh, 29, chose another emotion.

“Probably nostalgic,’’ he said. “I don’t really hold any resentment. I don’t know any of the coaches on the staff, I don’t even know Dave Gettleman, he made a business decision for the team, he took that team in the direction he wanted to go to.’’

Pugh grew up in Bucks County, Pa., only 12 miles from Philadelphia, attended Syracuse and loved being with and around all things Giants. The Cardinals fly in on Friday, and Pugh is already planning on hitting his favorite spots – Italian food at Augustino’s in Hoboken, for sure – and is promising to buy multiple pizzas from Tony Boloney’s in Jersey City for his teammates.

Life in the desert may not have the rigatoni he craves, but it does have its rewards. He lives on an acre of land and proudly announces, “I have a garage in my house, which is something that people that live in Hoboken or Jersey City definitely envy. Having your own personal space, it’s totally different. It’s night and day.’’

He expects around 100 friends and family members to attend the game Sunday. Sometimes, players in this situation refuse to engage in any revelry when facing a former team for the first time. Justin Pugh is not one of those players.

“Special feelings?’’ he said. “Yeah, definitely.’’