When the Giants open training camp this week in East Rutherford, N.J., perhaps the strangest quarterback controversy officially begins.

Daniel Jones, the surprise sixth-overall draft pick from Duke, isn’t expected to unseat the 16-year veteran Eli Manning as the starter no matter how well the youngster plays during the preseason.

But Jones, 22, doesn’t get a pass this summer. This isn’t a free internship in which he simply observes or does a few menial tasks to add a recommendation to his résumé. Thousands of Giants fans, who are invested in their team’s present and future, will be attending training camp workouts, and all eyes will be on the rookie quarterback to see why general manager Dave Gettleman used such a high pick on someone not projected to be drafted that early, to make him their quarterback of the future.

Jones needs to show fans something to validate the pick. Not just in the preseason games, when he figures to see extensive duty, but also during practices, especially those witnessed by fans who aren’t convinced the Giants did the right thing. Yes, we’re talking about practice, but it’s important for Jones to show promise.

He didn’t ask to be drafted by the Giants, so he doesn’t deserve to be booed at a baseball park or anywhere else until he has the chance to prove himself. He gets that chance beginning this week.

Normally, all eyes would be on Manning and his supporting cast. Tiki Barber, Amani Toomer, Plaxico Burress, Victor Cruz and Odell Beckham Jr. have come and gone. And there has been a revolving door of offensive linemen who have started for the Giants in the Manning era.

But the quarterback room hasn’t been this interesting in decades.

These situations are rare in the NFL and sometimes the most delicate. Pat Mahomes waiting a year to replace Alex Smith in Kansas City is the most recent comparison the Giants hope to emulate. Others point to Aaron Rodgers waiting years to succeed Brett Favre. If you look past the Kent Graham-Dave Brown era, the Giants haven’t had a real quarterback battle since the 1990 Super Bowl season, when coach Ray Handley couldn’t decide between Phil Simms and Jeff Hostetler, and the indecision ultimately contributed to Handley’s firing after just two seasons.

When Manning was drafted by the Chargers with the first-overall pick in 2004 and subsequently traded to the Giants, it was simply a matter of how many games it would be before he took over for Kurt Warner.

Tom Coughlin made the switch after the Giants lost three of four games following a 4-1 start. The franchise hasn’t needed another quarterback since then. A parade of backups and long-shot heirs apparent have come and gone, many without playing a single down in a regular-season game. That won’t happen with Jones. The Giants have already invested too much in him not to give him an opportunity — if not this year, certainly next.

There are plenty of skeptics who will never be convinced the Giants did the right thing by passing on linebacker Josh Allen, who went to the Jaguars with the seventh pick, and Ohio State quarterback Dwayne Haskins, who went 15th to Washington. Gettleman instead took Jones, targeted by some draft gurus for the second round.

The wave of criticism isn’t going away the first time Jones completes a 7-on-7 pass in camp or performs decently in a preseason game. We won’t know if Gettleman got it right until the Giants are Jones’ team and he has to beat the Cowboys or the Eagles on the road to take his team to the postseason.

We didn’t really know what Manning had in him until those magical Super Bowl runs in 2007 and 2011. The shine on those Lombardi trophies never dulls and has earned Manning one last chance to add a third ring to his legacy. But the story of training camp is still Jones and his journey to prove the Giants were right.