After Eli Manning led the Giants to their sixth losing season in the last seven, general manager Dave Gettleman admitted that he had a “brutally honest” conversation with the 15-year veteran quarterback in recent days.

“Eli and I had a very extensive conversation on Monday,” Gettleman said Wednesday at the Quest Diagnostics Training Center. “No holds barred. He took me in the low post, and won, but the bottom line is that it was a very up front and honest conversation.”

After Manning finished the season passing for 4,299 yards with 21 touchdowns and 11 interceptions, while completing a career-high 66 percent of his passes, Gettleman offered a lukewarm endorsement to the soon-to-be 38-year-old quarterback returning in 2019.

“I’m committed to making the best decision for the New York football Giants,” Gettleman said, when asked pointedly if he is committed to bringing Manning back in 2019. “That’s what I’m committed to do. We’re in the evaluation process. I know you guys want answers now, but frankly, I didn’t come in yesterday. I’m going to do what I do, which is get in my office and watch film. We will meet this week with the coaches, get their evaluations, meet next week with the pro scouting personnel and get their evaluations. That’s our schedule.

“My commitment is to make this team the best team it can be. If that happens to have Eli playing quarterback, it does.”

Gettleman’s views of Manning appear to have changed from those he held upon taking the job in Dec. 2017, when he claimed that the quarterback’s late-season surge against the eventual Super Bowl champion Eagles “was not a mirage.”

“There’s a chance you and I will get hit by a bus,” Gettleman said, when asked by NJ Advance Media if there is a chance that a quarterback other than Manning would open the season as the starter. “We’re going to do what’s in the best interest of the Giants. We’ll look at film. We’ll evaluate everything. Everything is on the table with us. Everything.”

While Manning had one of his stronger statistical seasons, his limited mobility at times and misreads on several passes in close games appeared to play a key role in the Giants' struggles this season, particularly on the way to a 1-7 start.

Manning is due $22.5 million against the cap if he is on the roster next season, and is due a $5 million roster bonus if he is on the roster on the first day of the NFL’s new-league-year on March 13, and another $.5 million workout bonus at that time.

Still, Gettleman says that he isn’t in any hurry to make a decision on his future and will spend time studying Manning’s film after watching the last 16 games.

“I always want to be right,” Gettleman said. “That’s me. That’s just my nature. I’m a film-junkie. There are things that I’ll remember that happened, but I might not catch. Understand this, I am very intentional about how I operate. Very intentional, methodical. That’s just who I am. I’m very methodical as a film-watcher, and making decisions. Yes, I watched every snap, but I want to watch the film, and I want to have time to breathe.”

After joining the Cleveland Browns as the only two NFL franchises to lose 24 games over the past two seasons, Gettleman and the Giants are armed with the No. 6 overall pick in April’s 2019 NFL Draft.

Whether Manning is back, or if the franchise opts to go in a different direction, it was glaringly obvious that Gettleman’s trepidation over investing a top-pick in a quarterback remains, one season after taking running back Saquon Barkley No. 2 overall last year.

“If you make something a priority, you will make a mistake,” Gettleman said, when asked if selecting a quarterback of the future is a top priority. “It has to be in the flow of what you are doing. You can’t force it. Especially at quarterback.”

Matt Lombardo may be reached at MLombardo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MattLombardoNFL