He was called “Playmaker’’ for a reason. Michael Irvin knew his way around leaping catches and diving grabs and sprinting into the end zone. He knew how to show up a defensive back. And he knew how to win, and win big.

And this is what the Playmaker sees when he envisions coach Ben McAdoo calling the shots and Eli Manning throwing to Odell Beckham Jr., Victor Cruz and Sterling Shepard:

“Could be dangerous,’’ Irvin told The Post recently. “Could be dangerous. They got a guy who can throw it and with [Ben] McAdoo, they got a guy who wants to call it and put his stamp on the Giants. You see, the Giants have always won with tough run and also pass. McAdoo open up New York? Do you know what happens if you open up New York? And he wins by opening up New York? Oh my God.’’

With that, Irvin’s eyes widened as the words raced out of his mouth. For a guy — well, not just a guy, but a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame — with so much expertise in the area of pass-catching and the dangers a passing attack can inflict on defenses, this is something he wants to see, something he is rooting for. Sure, Irvin’s entire 12-year career was spent with the Cowboys, but when it comes to aerial exploits, he is all in wherever the highlights take him.

“With this group, you have ’em all on the field, it’s not just that they can make plays, catch the ball, it’s what they can do after the catch,’’ Irvin said. “They have that ability. It will be interesting to see if it all comes together.’’

It has not all come together just yet, not by a long shot. Interestingly, the only one of the three receivers who has put together an unblemished and eye-opening training camp is Shepard, the rookie second-round pick from Oklahoma. He put together a “wow’’ moment most every day, sometimes more than one per practice, and it is all systems go on his accelerating smoothly from the exit ramp into the fast lane of the NFL highway.

Beckham missed several days dealing with lacerations and soreness in his left ankle after getting cleated by cornerback Janoris Jenkins. When he returned to action, he burned Jenkins on an 80-yard touchdown, so there are no worries about Odell’s greatness. Cruz has not experienced any setbacks in his comeback from knee and calf surgeries, nor has he shown any real burst or explosive tendencies to indicate he can become close to what he once was.

It remains early enough — there are 35 days until the regular-season opener against the Cowboys — for the trio to become a formidable force.

Irvin seemed especially interested in studying Shepard, with good reason. Irvin and Sterling’s father, the late Derrick Shepard, were teammates with the Cowboys for three seasons (1989-91).

“Great friend of mine,’’ Irvin said. “I just think it’s such a great story. You see the story, you see [Oklahoma] coach [Bob] Stoops taking him in, I remember him as a little kid, and now to see him complete that circle by having a chance to play in the league? He was a baby, and now this guy is 23 years old. I love him.’’

Irvin said he saw Cruz at dinner during the offseason and could tell Cruz was hurting for what he had missed and enthralled by what he might yet recover.

“You could tell, the place he was in, he wanted to be on the field so much,’’ Irvin said. “I always tell people this, you don’t know how much people love football until you see that pain in their eyes when they don’t have the opportunity to play. To see him back on the field, I’m happy for him, you can see the life in him and I’m anxious to see what happens.’’

As for Beckham, well, Irvin knows how to spot a phenom when he sees one. He said every time he walks into a barber shop, there are kids requesting an Odell Beckham haircut. Beckham early in camp wore short, tight shorts and Irvin figures that will be the next big thing with the impressionable youth.

Irvin called Beckham “a great dude’’ who now has a greater understanding “that God has gifted him with a great gift, and I’m not just talking about playing ball, but the gift of influence.’’

Charles Barkley cautioned that Beckham is becoming too famous. Irvin counters thusly:

“I don’t think he’s too famous,’’ Irvin said. “We have to be careful with all of that, you know what I mean? The man is doing what he does and he happens to be doing it well and he does it on this stage, he’s not controlling that. He’s riding into that. Now the thing he can control is how much of that affect what he does on the football field. You haven’t seen that, so how can you make those statements?

“Now, if you come out and you’re all everywhere and you drop off and now you’re at 759 yards and five touchdowns and 38 catches, you got too famous, man, you’re not playing. But the man right now has put together the best two seasons in NFL history. I love Charles, but I can’t make that statement.’’

Much has to work together for the Giants to truly boast a deadly three-ring pass-catching circus. It could unravel before it ever starts up; Irvin is not thinking that way.

“Let’s be honest,’’ Irvin said. “Rashad Jennings at running back, good, solid running back, but you got Eli Manning, you got Odell Beckham, you got Victor Cruz, if he gets 75 percent, 80 percent of what he used to be, with the young Sterling? If you don’t open it up, I need to open up [McAdoo’s] head and crack his cranium and fertilize his brain and tell him what are you doing, you know what I mean? That’s what I’m saying.’’