PHOENIX — John Mara hears your complaints and feels your pain regarding Ereck Flowers, but the co-owner of the Giants sounds as if he fully expects the disappointing offensive lineman to once again be the starting left tackle when the 2017 season commences.

“I’m not giving up on Ereck Flowers yet,’’ Mara said Sunday evening at the NFL Annual Meeting, the gathering of owners. “I know that seems to be the popular sentiment around, but this is a young kid who’s been in our weight room every day in the offseason — he wants to be good. He wants to be a top left tackle in this game. There’s a spot for him on our team. Hopefully it will continue to be at left tackle, but I’m not giving up on him yet, and I don’t think anyone on our staff is.’’

The Giants addressed many needs this offseason, but left tackle — perhaps the most glaring deficiency weaved into an 11-5 playoff team — is not one of them. Flowers, the ninth-overall pick in the 2015 draft, regressed after a so-so rookie year. After the season, general manager Jerry Reese stated, “It’s time for him to show the fruits of being a first-round pick,’’ admitting the team will “evaluate’’ whether left tackle is the spot for him.

“I think he’s a very prideful guy, I think he was probably stung by some of the criticism and I think that will serve to motivate him next year,’’ Mara said. “He’s a good kid, he really is. He wants to be a top player in this league, and I think when you have a guy that’s going to work as hard as he does and is as big and strong as he is, I think you have a chance.’’

The Giants signed tight end Rhett Ellison and offensive lineman D.J. Fluker in free agency, moves made to upgrade a rushing attack that finished 29th in the league in 2016, averaging only 88.3 yards per game.

“We tried to address that this offseason, I mean, bringing in Ellison, who’s a really good blocking tight end, that’s something we really haven’t had here for a while, that will help us,’’ Mara said. “I think we still need to add another running back at some point in time. Fluker will certainly help us as far as running the ball. There are a lot of guys who can play better than they did.’’

On defense, the Giants have 10 of their 11 starters returning, with only Johnathan Hankins unsigned. The Giants want the steady defensive tackle back, but only on their terms.

“There’s still one more piece out there that we’d like to keep, but we wanted to try to do that if possible without being irresponsible,’’ Mara said. “I don’t know what’s going to happen. We certainly want him back, but it’s got to make sense for us. He’s an important part of our team, he’s a great kid, he’s young and he fits in very well with us.’’

Adding Brandon Marshall before the start of free agency, Mara said, “was a spark to the entire organization, getting a player of that caliber. We were talking once the season ended about how it would really be nice to have a big receiver in here to complement our offense, and then all of a sudden he becomes available. I think that’s really going to help us. He’s got a great attitude and he wants to win, and I think he’ll be a good influence in the receiver room.’’

The offense struggled mightily in 2016, finishing 26th in scoring at 19.4 points a game with Ben McAdoo calling the plays in his first year as the head coach. McAdoo, as the offensive coordinator, called the plays in 2015, and the Giants were sixth in the league in scoring at 26.2 points a game.

“That’s up to him, it really is,’’ Mara said of McAdoo calling the plays. “We’ve questioned him about it a couple of times, he’s still comfortable doing it. I think he still thinks about passing it off to Mike Sullivan, but I think he’s still — [Packers coach] Mike McCarthy still does it, and that was kind of his mentor. If he’s comfortable doing it, it’s fine with us, as long as he feels like he can manage the game properly.’’