PHOENIX — Giants owner John Mara isn’t willing to sacrifice the present for the future.

Just like general manager Dave Gettleman won’t say the word “rebuild" and declined to reveal his plan to frustrated fans, Mara also is not about to exclusively approve moves to help the Giants down the road while ignoring the product on the field in 2019.

That plan explains the return of 38-year-old quarterback Eli Manning and the additions of soon-to-be 31-year-old wide receiver Golden Tate ($23 million guaranteed on a four-year contract) and 34-year-old safety Antoine Bethea to a team with just eight wins over the last two seasons.

Tate and Bethea are the replacements for outgoing younger, better players like Odell Beckham and Landon Collins, which seems contradictory to the long-term plan Giants should be following enter coach Pat Shurmur’s second season.

“I love that question: What is the plan?” Mara said. "We’re not going to get into, ‘We like this player at (draft pick) No. 6. We’re probably thinking about these two or three players at (draft pick) No. 17. Yes, we are definitely going to address the quarterback in this year’s draft.'

“The plan is to build the team and make it better. I don’t know why that’s such an issue with (media) or with fans, to be honest with you.”

Playing the middle ground between a total tank — not the Giants’ way — and loading up for a championship run as they did in 2016 is a risky move without much history of working in sports.

Ownership sees the Beckham trade as an opportunity to replace one superstar with three starters in safety Jabrill Peppers, the first-round pick and the third-round pick acquired from the Browns.

“We know where we need to build certain positions,” co-owner Steve Tisch said. “Dave has a plan and he discusses it with Pat. Pat has a plan and he discusses it with Dave. There is a plan. Over the next six weeks, pieces of that plan are going to start coming together.”

One year ago, the Giants went all-in with their moves — not their words — by trading draft picks for linebacker Alec Ogletree, signing Nate Solder to the then-highest offensive line contract in the NFL, drafting running back Saquon Barkley over a future quarterback and more.

Since starting 1-7 in 2018, the Giants have traded defensive starters Eli Apple (Saints), Damon Harrison (Lions) and Olivier Vernon (Browns) and let Collins and B.W. Webb walk in free agency. Collins was a franchise-tag candidate.

Now, they acknowledge the defense needs more playmakers to compete. Grass is green.

“I understand what you see as a conflict: Are they rebuilding or trying to win now?” Mara said. “We are trying to build the team and remain as competitive as possible. We obviously have a lot of holes to fill. We think we have the draft capital (12 picks) to at least start to address that.

“Whenever you are building a team, you have to have the right combination of veterans and young players. You want the right veterans to teach the young players how to be professionals, how to be a Giant, what it takes to win in this league. It’s get the right mix in the locker room."

The Giants have been to the playoffs once in the last seven seasons and stayed out of the rich market on big-time free agents like Tyrann Mathieu or Za’Darius Smith who could’ve sped up the building process. They have a NFL-high $33.6 million in dead cap space.

“I’m never going to come into a season saying we don’t want to be a playoff team," Mara said. “The direction from ownership to Dave and Pat is ‘Build the team.”

The one solution that could make it seem like the Giants had a great plan in place all along is finding the right young quarterback, like the Chiefs, Texans, Rams, Eagles, Bears, Browns and maybe Bills and Jets have with recent first-round picks.

“I don’t want us to force a situation where the value for the quarterbacks this year is not there. Then don’t take one,” Mara said. “If it’s there, take one. It would be a great situation to have somebody in place to sit behind Eli for some period of time and see how he prepares for each game.”

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