This is supposed to be the fun part for Daniel Jones.

Instead of being a hyped rookie with the hope of being a franchise savior, he has become the unassuming face for what’s wrong with the Giants, whose decision-makers were widely criticized for taking the Duke quarterback with the No. 6 pick of April’s draft.

Why not Dwayne Haskins?

Why not wait till No. 17 if they wanted Jones?

“I remember as a rookie being excited, optimistic,” former Giants quarterback and current SiriusXM host Danny Kanell said. “With all the criticism that’s been heaped on Daniel Jones, I just wonder if that’s been zapped from him. You talk about a welcome-to-the-NFL moment, he hasn’t even thrown an interception and he’s getting booed at Yankees games. He’s getting mocked off of one practice at his rookie camp.”

Jones’ first real chance to impress the media and a skeptical fan base comes Thursday night in the Giants’ preseason opener against the Jets. Giants coach Pat Shurmur has talked up the first-year signal-caller throughout OTAs and the early stages of training camp, while Jones himself has said all the right things.

“Confidence is one of the most important things for a young quarterback to have and I have to imagine it’s really tough for Daniel Jones to stay positive through all the negativity,” Kanell said. “He’s handling it on the outside really, really well. That’s a credit to him and his upbringing.

“But, man, I just wonder what’s going on inside his head because it has to be tough through all this. It’s not going to get any easier in this process. He’s really going to have to have some thick skin and prove everyone wrong.”

Kanell was a fourth-round pick out of Florida State in 1996, played in four games his rookie season, led the Giants to the playoffs in Year 2 and one season later was released as the franchise moved on to Kerry Collins.

“For me, I just remember I was swimming and in over my head,” Kanell recalled of his first preseason game. “I was so green, the playbook seemed like it was in Mandarin and yet there was a chance for me to play early because Dave Brown wasn’t exactly entrenched as the starter.

“When I played, the crowd liked me. The backup is supposed to be the crowd favorite, not the one people are waiting to boo. The Giants have this backwards with the reaction to Jones.”

Kanell said he believes that despite the animosity surrounding the selection, the Giants are positioned well to groom Jones.

That starts with Eli Manning, who stands in Jones’ way for an undetermined amount of time. Five games? Ten games? One season? The Kansas City model? The Green Bay model? It really depends on how long the 38-year-old Manning can keep the Giants competitive and how the franchise wants to handle his goodbye.

“Eli is going to be a professional about it,” Kanell said. “He’s going to be a role model for Daniel Jones to watch. Whether or not Eli takes him under his wing, he should just be a sponge this first year and absorb as much as he can about Eli. It’s not just about how to study film, how to call a play in the huddle.

“It’s just as much how to deal with the New York media, how do you interact with your teammates, respond to a tough game. All those types of things that are very unique to that position, especially in the New York market, which is one of the toughest ones to thrive in.”