In a move that shows he understands Giants history, Pat Shurmur made an extra phone call on the day he benched Eli Manning for rookie quarterback Daniel Jones.

Shurmur called former Giants coach Tom Coughlin -- now the executive vice president of football operations for the Jacksonville Jaguars -- to inform him of the decision before news spread.

Coughlin was a first-year Giants coach when they moved on from Kerry Collins and drafted Manning, and the coach-quarterback combination won two Super Bowls and 105 combined regular-season plus playoff games from 2004-15.

“Pat Shurmur actually said to me, ‘He’s your guy, and I wanted you to know that I (did) a very difficult thing today,’” Coughlin told a small group of reporters Friday night on the red carpet at the Tom Coughlin Jay Fund gala. “I told Pat, ‘Yeah, he is my guy. And guess what? He’ll always be my guy.’”

Tom Coughlin at his 15th annual Champions for Children Gala for his JayFund says Pat Shurmur reached out to him day the decision to bench Eli Manning in favor of Daniel Jones. Wanted to give him heads up. Coughlin told him: “He is my guy and guess what, he’ll always be my guy!” pic.twitter.com/li4lwxqkRq — Jordan Raanan (@JordanRaanan) September 27, 2019

(mobile app users click here to see video of Coughlin’s answer)

Coughlin was “very upset” when the Giants benched Manning for one game in 2017. This time, he sent Manning a text message to check in on his quarterback after the benching.

"What I say to him is I knew when this happened he knows he has my 100 percent support,” Coughlin said. “But he will handle it with class and with dignity, and he will help the young guy (Jones) just like Kurt Warner helped him (in 2004). That’s what Eli is.”

Shurmur was honored by the Jay Fund, which still works very closely with the Giants even after Coughlin’s awkward exit in favor of his offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo in 2016.

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The Jay Fund to help tackle childhood cancer through emotional and financial support was started in honor of Jay McGillis, who played under Coughlin at Boston College and died of cancer at age 21. Since then, the Jay Fund has helped more than 5,000 families and given away more than $10 million in grants.

Ryan Dunleavy may be reached at rdunleavy@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @rydunleavy. Find our Giants coverage on Facebook.