Maligned Apple won’t be

So what do the Giants have against players named Eli?

Two days after the head coach benched franchise QB Eli Manning, defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo basically said Thursday that Eli Apple isn’t starting at corner Sunday in Oakland, despite coming off two straight healthy scratches with top corner Janoris Jenkins (ankle surgery) done for the season.

“Eli is back in the fold, and depending on what package we’re in, you’ll see him out there,” Spagnuolo said, meaning Apple won’t be on the field in a base defense that features two corners. “So, that’s a good thing. That’ll help us.”

This came one day after McAdoo went out of his way to say Apple “did some good things on special teams today and that’s a great place to start.” And it continued an increasingly ugly drama with Apple at its center.

You might have forgotten, but before Manning’s benching was announced on Tuesday, Apple, 22, the Giants’ 10th overall pick in 2016, was due to be the story of the day.

Last Saturday, a hit-job report quoting anonymous sources with obvious ties to the organization clarified that Apple’s second straight benching on Thanksgiving had been related to Apple’s immature response to criticism received in McAdoo’s ballyhooed Nov. 15 film session that had stressed accountability.

No matter that Apple’s mother was undergoing brain surgery the next day on Thursday, Nov. 16, which would make any normal human more emotional. Annie Apple’s surgery also led to Eli’s missing Thursday and Friday practices, cited by McAdoo as the reason for Apple’s deactivation that week.

But we repeat: Some anonymous source inside the building smeared Apple nine days after his mom had brain surgery. And the sources’ anonymity fed rumors that Apple had been one of the players who had ripped McAdoo anonymously in the second week of November.

Apple responded to that on Tuesday and