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The general consensus among the experts is that New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning will not be a member of the team in 2020.

That’s what happens to veteran quarterbacks who have a franchise player drafted over them in the NFL. They are moved out of the way and either retire or move on to another organization.

That is the scenario the Giants created when they selected Daniel Jones sixth overall in this year’s NFL Draft. Although general manager Dave Gettleman and head coach Pat Shurmur have floated all types of scenarios where Manning continues on as the Giants’ quarterback after this season (the Kansas City and Green Bay models), the die has been cast.

You don’t draft a quarterback with the sixth pick to have him ride the bench. Plus, you don’t hold a player the caliber of Jones back more than one season. In Kansas City, Patrick Mahomes sat for a year. Then he was handed the starting job and became the NFL’s MVP in 2018.

In Green Bay, Aaron Rodgers sat for three years behind Brett Favre before embarking on his Hall of Fame career. But that was a dozen years ago. The NFL is a different landscape now.

The Giants will start Manning this Sunday in the 2019 season opener in Dallas. He has to play well and the Giants must win games in order for him to continue as the team’s starting quarterback. Even then, he could find himself being replaced by the impressive youngster out of Duke, who nearly had a perfect preseason.

Manning of all players should understand that this is the natural order of things in the NFL. He himself was in a similar situation when he broke into the league back in 2004. The Giants were 5-4 behind future Hall of Famer Kurt Warner when head coach Tom Coughin made the switch to Manning.

The NFL is different now in that sense as well. Quarterbacks are playing into their late 30’s and 40’s and many of them are still the cream leading their clubs to championship games and Super Bowls — Tom Brady, Rodgers, Drew Brees, Ben Roethlisberger, Philip Rivers, et al.

The 38-year-old Manning has never missed a game due to injury. He is in impeccable physical condition and he improved his arm strength by working with a baseball trainer this past offseason. He has lit it up in training camp, showing extra zip on the football and it’s even believed by some he is responsible for wide receiver Sterling Shepard’s thumb fracture.

But all of that may not matter. Manning’s contract ends after this season and the Giants will have a choice — fly into the wild blue yonder with Jones, the completion machine who has shown an uncanny unflappability to everything that’s been thrown at him, or stick with Manning, the future Hall of Famer who knows the way to the Super Bowl as well as last place.

In 2019, you can’t have it both ways. Gettleman is on record saying they want to rebuild and compete at the same time. They have not been competing and no one is quite sure is this rebuild will work.

The Giants either have to start winning or stick to the rebuild story. It’s up to Manning which narrative the Giants will follow this year. If he slips just once, that could trigger the change. If he excels, he can prolong the inevitable.

But make no mistake, this is likely Manning last season in Blue. Gettleman assured us of that once he took Jones in the draft, no matter what he says.