Jerry Reese and the Giants sat in the Big Blue war room and watched John Fox and the Bears leapfrog them for pass-rusher Leonard Floyd, the presumptive apple of their eye.

And if Floyd was truly the apple of the Giants’ eye, if he becomes a Monster of the Midway instead of a Monster of the Meadowlands, then shame on them for not being proactive and surrendering a fourth-round pick to make sure they sacked him.

But that, of course, is the predictable knee-jerk reaction from the mock-draft crowd, and perhaps nitpicking scouts as well.

But there didn’t seem to be any remorse for opportunity lost in East Rutherford when the apple of the Giants’ eye turned out to be Ohio State cornerback Eli Apple, a pick so surprising, it even surprised Eli Apple, heretofore known as The Other Eli.

“He’s like a black Eli Manning,” his mother, Annie Apple, told The Post from Chicago. “The personality, his facial expressions, the whole nine.”

No one I know has seen the Giants’ draft board, and knows for certain whether there was any kind of value gap between Apple and Floyd or offensive tackle Jack Conklin, who went eighth to the Titans, when they also leapfrogged the Giants by trading with the Browns.

If you can’t sack the Best Quarterback Predator Available, the other way to skin the cat is to build yourself a Legion of Boom East around Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and Janoris Jenkins, because if you don’t have three quality corners in this pass-crazy NFL, you have no chance.

“When you have two corners in this league, you’re short one,” Reese said. “We think we can play with anybody around the league with these three kind of guys.”

If you find it difficult to believe Reese, perhaps you’ll believe Annie Apple.

“You’re getting a football lover,” she said. “He always wants to get better. No one is gonna ever outwork Eli Apple. Ever.”

Apple grew up admiring Patrick Peterson, Darrelle Revis, Ike Taylor and Logan Ryan, who attended Eastern Regional High School in Voorhees, NJ, before him.

“Eli loves the game like a doctor loves medicine,” Annie Apple said, “like Picasso loved painting.”

Another surprise was Apple being drafted ahead of 5-foot-10 cornerback Vernon Hargreaves, who was gobbled up by the Bucs immediately after the Giants picked 10th.

“We thought this guy was a better player,” Reese said.

Reese was asked if there was disappointment when the Bears made their move for Floyd.

“You stay with your board,” Reese said, “and when they come off, nobody’s crying in here when somebody gets picked.”

Apple is clean away from the field, no worry about him smoking a bong in a gas mask (that’s you, Laremy Tunsil). Linebacker Myles Jack was not a consideration because of his knee.

“Just beyond the guys who had some issues, he’s the highest guy on the board,” Reese said.

Asked if it might be perceived as a reach, Giants scouting director Marc Ross said: “We’ve heard it before. We’ve taken other players that [were called] a reach. Nobody knows. If you get a dime for every expert, I could retire. Come on. Experts? People analyze. People have opinions. What’s it based on? Nobody has seen the tape. Nobody goes to practice. Nobody puts in the work like the scouts do. It’s easy to second-guess and pick and say get everybody’s pick right and tell them what they should do, but you’ve just got to put in the work and trust what you do.”

Eli Apple isn’t the perfect corner. He isn’t Revis, needs to improve his ball skills. But he’s 6 feet, with upside, and only 20 years old. Ben McAdoo labels him “combative.”

If he turns out to be the black Eli Manning, he’ll be the Apple of everyone’s eye.