Carl Banks was in the Michigan State football office in 1984 when the call came that changed his life came from East Rutherford, N.J.

“I didn’t draft you to sit on the bench,” Bill Parcells told him.

It has been 32 years since the New York Football Giants dialed up a linebacker in the first round of the NFL draft.

This could be the year. This could be the week, when general manager Jerry Reese honors a once-proud heritage by selecting a game-changer with the 10th pick of Thursday night’s draft.

“I don’t think anybody should be upset if they don’t take a linebacker, as long as they get a good linebacker in this draft,” Banks said. “But if they do take a linebacker, it’s reason to be excited, because they feel that they have a guy finally in a defensive line-oriented system, they finally found a guy that they feel is worthy of being chosen in the first round.”

Banks would have no qualms with Reese grabbing an offensive tackle to fill a giant need on the right side, but if Georgia’s Leonard Floyd is available and rated higher on the Big Blue board, Banks would welcome the choice.

“I call him a convertible — first and second down, he’s a pure linebacker,” Banks said, “third down he converts to a pass rusher. Very good football IQ. I’ve seen about 70 or 80 plays on him. I know a lot of people think he’s old [23] for a rookie coming in. I don’t think it matters in a first contract. He’s got great size to be a convertible at linebacker. Good length. As a pass rusher, he can alter the trajectory of a quarterback pass in passing lines. He can go backwards in zone defense. He can also change throwing lanes in zone coverage. If he’s the best available player in the first round, you take him. I don’t see why not. I think he would be a high-production football player at that position.”

Floyd is 6-foot-6, 244 pounds. Banks dreams of a young Julius Peppers.

“I look at some of the scouting reports,” Banks said, “and some guys say, ‘Well, he’s too lanky to be a linebacker at 6-6, 245.’ … If you could find a guy 6-5, 6-6, 245, 250 pounds, you’d take him all day, because … they all play basketball, or they’re all tight ends. If he were a tight end at 6-6, 240, would anybody complain? But then, you want somebody who can cover that guy, right? So why not? He plays with good leverage, you’re not talking about a guy who gets blown off the ball a lot.

“Scouts are being too cute when it comes to that, ’cause they don’t know what a prototypical linebacker is now. They can’t pick one out of a lineup now. If they put four bums and Patrick Willis, they would probably debate whether or not Patrick Willis was the best guy in the group. They don’t understand what it is to be a linebacker in today’s NFL, and what makes you even better if you have certain attributes. … A guy who’s got great length at that position, and can play with leverage … [has] got an advantage over a guy who’s 6-2, 240 pounds.”

Banks also is intrigued by UCLA’s Myles Jack, who would slide to the Giants if teams are wary of his surgically repaired knee.

“If you had to in a vacuum say who’s the most ideal linebacker for this generation of football — his name’ll pop right out of the hat,” Banks said. “He’s fast, he’s agile, can cover. … If he was drafted, and I were his coach, the No. 1 mandate to him would be, ‘You’re expected to make 175 tackles a year,’ ” Banks said. “There’s no reason why a guy like him with his speed shouldn’t.

“I call him a bit of a TMZ linebacker — always the first on the scene, but sometimes he’s not the first in the action. But when he’s forced to hit, he hits. So that would be why I would challenge him. Be a 150-175 tackle season guy, because if not, you’re a TMZ linebacker. … But — and it’s a big but — if you line an offensive lineman up in front of him? He lowers his pads and knocks the crap out of people. So which one are you getting?”

It would behoove the Giants, given their M*A*S*H unit recent history, to pass on Jack if there were the slightest red flag over his condition.

“The preference for me would be the guy who’s played linebacker his whole career, and that’s Leonard Floyd,” Banks said. “ If they took Jack, I wouldn’t complain.

“Jack is a freak. The last time you saw something like that, it reminds me a little bit of Thomas [“Hollywood”] Henderson. He’s not Wilber Marshall, but if he hit like Wilber Marshall, you’d be more than happy. They don’t come around a lot.”

Banks said he believes the tiebreaker between linebacker and offensive tackle will be the quality depth at the positions.

“You look at what you did in free agency: It’s a lot of defense, high-production defensive players, right? And then you look at your grades on linebackers beyond the first round. And if you’ve got linebackers beyond the first round that are high-production guys or the potential to be high-production football players for you, then you go offensive line,” Banks said.

Banks was the third-overall pick in 1984.

“I had no idea the Giants were interested,” he said.

He was welcomed to a linebacking corps that included Lawrence Taylor, Harry Carson, Brad Van Pelt and Brian Kelley that called itself the Crunch Bunch, and it was eye-opening for him.

“You didn’t know the magnitude of what it meant to be a Giants linebacker,” Banks said. “I found out my first practice. Watching Lawrence go in practice — was faster than I ever played a game. That was the standard. You jumped on the highway, and the off ramp was at probably 90 miles an hour. You weren’t easing into it.”

It wasn’t long before Banks and LT flanked Pepper Johnson dressed in suits standing defiantly in front of Giants Stadium for a Badfellas poster, and the Super Bowl XXI Giants defense was heralded as the Big Blue Wrecking Crew. The eventual philosophy change to a front-four pass rush has rendered the first-round linebacker extinct in East Rutherford.

“I think it’s time for them to upgrade the position, and get high production from the position,” Banks said.