Dave Gettleman cited a random Giants fan at a bagel shop to defend Daniel Jones pick

Giants general manager Dave Gettleman has been on the defensive since he decided to take Duke quarterback Daniel Jones with the No. 6 pick in the NFL Draft.

He preached the need for patience and pointed at his resume, hoping to calm all the backlash he’s received about his questionable draft performance that also included considerable reaches with the No. 17 and No. 30 picks.

But if you wanted to know exactly where Gettleman’s confidence stands, he’s justifying draft decisions based on a compliment from a random Giants fan at a bagel shop.

According to Peter King, this is a thing that really happened.

Odd travel weekend, and I was writing outside on a lovely early Sunday morning in Phoenix, at a table in the back of my hotel. Middle-aged guy approaches, introduces himself. “Giants fan,” the guy said. “Talk me off the ledge. Does Gettleman know what he’s doing?”

“I’ll give you one,” Gettleman himself said over the phone an hour later. “I was at my bagel shop this morning. Guy said to me, ‘Dave, great pick.’”

I must appreciate that confidence in Gettleman’s draft decisions was so difficult to come by that the actual Giants general manager is clinging to a stamp of approval from some dude at a bagel shop. He could have cited any exec in the Giants organization, a scouting director — anyone. But no, his go-to praise was from Bagel Shop Guy.

That won’t inspire Giants fans.

Let’s hope Bagel Shop Guy wasn’t talking about Gettleman’s bagel selection. That would be a tough blow.