Dave Gettleman is a lot of things.

He’s colorful.

He’s brash.

He’s loquacious.

He’s unapologetic.

He’s condescending.

He’s stubborn.

Above all, what defines the Giants 68-year-old general manager most is this: He’s resolute in his belief his way is the right way.

Giants fans can only hope his way indeed is the right way. Because so far, his way has appeared to lack direction and continuity despite his insistence last month when he sounded a lot like a politician trying to woo constituents: “Trust me, we have a plan.’’

I’d love to hear John Mara’s assessment of Gettleman’s plan so far over a cup of tea laced with a dash of truth serum.

In Gettleman’s defense, it’s early. General managers and coaches should not be judged by 16 months of work — and that’s how long it’s been since Mara brought Gettleman back to New Jersey for his second stint with the organization.

But, based on his track record — one littered with some curious maneuvers (getting nothing for safety and locker-room leader Landon Collins among them) — Gettleman should be on the clock with the league-high 12 picks he has in this week’s NFL draft.

The onus should lay heavily on Gettleman to start getting things right and show his plan is going to work.

That, in large part, begins with finding a successor to Eli Manning, which he’s been defiantly unwilling to do despite having significant opportunities to do so.

Whatever legacy Gettleman leaves with the Giants, who went 5-11 in 2018, the first year under his watch, will begin and end with whomever he comes up with as the next franchise quarterback.

It was the same with Jets GM Mike Maccagnan, who at first whiffed on Christian Hackenberg and then saved his job (for the moment) by drafting Sam Darnold last year.

Gettleman didn’t have to find a franchise quarterback for his previous employer, the Panthers. He inherited Cam Newton.

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To date, he’s stood resolutely behind Manning, insisting Manning can still win at age 38 with the right pieces around him. That’s why he opted to draft Saquon Barkley with the second-overall pick last year, a choice that’s difficult to criticize given how special Barkley is.

But then, in a mixed-message move that contradicted a win-now approach, Gettleman traded away Manning’s top target, Odell Beckham Jr., after paying him $21.5 million in the first year of a five-year, $90 million deal, leaving the team with $16 million in dead salary-cap money.

I don’t profess to know whether Gettleman will be better off using the sixth-overall pick Thursday night to get his next quarterback or the 17th-overall pick to do so. No one really knows.

What everyone does know is that quarterbacks are overvalued in every draft because there are so few competent ones out there.

Listening to Gettleman, it sure sounds as if it’s not likely the Giants are going to take a quarterback at No. 6 because they probably value other players — who can potentially help their porous defense immediately — higher.

I don’t know whether Ohio State quarterback Dwayne Haskins is a better prospect than Duke’s Daniel Jones or Missouri’s Drew Lock.

I don’t know if trading for Arizona’s Josh Rosen — after the Cardinals do what everyone expects them to do and draft Kyler Murray with the No. 1-overall pick — is the answer.

What I do know is Gettleman has to get this right to back up all of his brash talk about his plan.

That begins with Thursday night’s first round of the draft and continues from there. It continues, Giants fans hope, with a Manning successor in place and an improved defense.

Gettleman has been quick to say that he “won’t force a pick’’ to get a quarterback, saying, “You can’t draft for need. You will get screwed every time and make a mistake.’’

Asked whether drafting of quarterbacks is “its own special category,’’ Gettleman said, “No it is not.’’

I disagree with that. Former Packers GM Ron Wolf, one of the best personnel people the league has ever seen, always employed the philosophy that you take at least one quarterback in every draft. You don’t take at least one safety or tight end in every draft. Quarterbacks are their own special category, and perhaps the one category that requires teams to reach.

Despite all of the overanalysis that goes into the draft these days, it is, in large part, still a crapshoot. Teams have to stick their necks out and take chances.

Gettleman, a year removed from passing on some pretty good prospects (beginning with Darnold), needs to stick his neck out and take a chance on one of these quarterbacks and hope he’s right. It’s the only way he’ll truly back his bravado, the only way he’ll prove he really does have a plan.