FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — So much swirling around Daniel Jones is about the waiting game.

His ascension into the coveted role of starting quarterback for the Giants is inevitable, but not imminent. The season will play out first with Eli Manning back in the saddle for a 16th year, and yet the odds are stacked mightily against him maintaining his hold on the reins for the entire 16-game schedule. To keep what he has, there has to be more winning by the team and excellence from the 38-year-old than most believe the team and the player are capable of achieving.

With the Giants front-line players mostly sitting this one out, Jones will make his first preseason start Thursday night against the Patriots at Gillette Stadium and it is fascinating to speculate when his next start arrives. Is it after four games? At midseason? After eight games? Does it come at the bye week, after 10 games, although the next matchup, at Chicago, is not an enviable spot for a rookie to make his starting debut? Does Manning keep the Giants in playoff contention through Halloween and then Thanksgiving and on into the Christmas season, keeping Jones on the bench and turning co-owner John Mara’s dream scenario into reality?

All these hypotheticals have come flying at Jones the way an edge rusher rips around the corner to invade the pocket. If Jones is able to sidestep defenders charging at him the way he ducks and evades these questions, the Giants will have themselves quite an elusive quarterback.

“At this point, I feel like I have improved and have made steps in the right direction,’’ Jones said. “There is a lot to work on, but my job is to be prepared and I trust the plan.’’

There it is. The demarcation between order and chaos. Jones trusts the plan. The Manning-clone from Duke turned a solid spring into a wonderful summer, actually upgrading his impressive practice sessions with even better performances in the preseason games.

Given how poised and professional he looks, it is intriguing to wonder how Jones would fare if he was given the keys to the offense right away.

There is nothing Jones can do in his first start — coming, in typical Bill Belichick fashion, against an entire field of Patriots backups — to alter the plan. Manning will start Sept. 8 in the season opener against the Cowboys at AT&T Stadium. And so, this is the last anyone will see of Jones, other than whatever mop-up work coach Pat Shurmur throws his way at the end of blowout wins (most likely a rarity) or one-sided losses (more likely).

There is no doubt the Giants, by taking Jones with the No. 6 overall pick, were higher on Jones than most every other team in the league.

There also is no doubt Jones has been everything the front office and coaching staff envisioned, and more. By completing 83 percent of his passes and not throwing an interception thus far in the preseason, Jones makes it even more imperative for Manning to get off to an impressive start, because Shurmur is already convinced Jones, if need be, could win for him when the games count.

The one area Jones has not excelled is ball security — he has three fumbles.

“I think I realized there would be good days, bad days, and a lot of learning,’’ Jones said. “This a big step for anyone, just adjusting to playing in the NFL, so it’s been good.’’

He has yet to face a starting NFL defense that spent an entire week scheming to defeat him and it is foolhardy to suspect Jones could start in Week 1 and not experience any growing pains. Manning is a master at dissecting what is going down at the line of scrimmage. Jones is considered to be a quick study, but he cannot yet match Manning’s prowess here.

Off the field, the Giants’ main decision-makers wink in approval whenever Jones brushes aside any hint of controversy (getting booed at the draft and Yankee Stadium, Baker Mayfield’s critique) with a breezy manner that is vintage Eli Manning in its ease and simplicity.

“Whatever level you’re on, I think that’s something you realize early on,’’ Jones said. “Granted, it’s a much larger scale at this point, but it’s the nature of the position and you have to accept that. Yeah, I think I’ve realized that.’’

He realizes pretty much everything, including the need to wait his turn.

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