For starters,

Geno Smith deserves another chance to be an NFL team’s franchise quarterback. He did everything right with the Giants last season. He was a hard worker, a good teammate and a productive passer in his lone Week 13 start in Oakland. He got healthy and stronger after the torn ACL he suffered in his right knee in October 2016 when he was with the Jets. And he handled his return to the bench when Eli Manning was restored as starter with more poise and class than most would have. “I don’t want to talk about my game or pump myself up through the media,” Smith, 27, told the Daily News in a phone interview Monday morning from his offseason base in Miami. “I want to work hard and for my efforts to reveal themselves on the field. I hate to do a lot of this stuff because I understand it’s about what you do in this league and what you do on Sundays is what matters most. That’s why the opportunity is important. I just think I need that opportunity.”

Smith needs that opportunity again now as he heads into free agency, despite how well he handled himself as a Giant. Rarely does an NFL quarterback sign with a new team, impress his new coach and teammates, play well when given the chance and still hit the open market.

But that’s where Smith finds himself. And it’s a gut-wrenching twist considering Ben McAdoo believed in Smith. The ex-coach told him that after his performance in Oakland, he felt Smith deserved to play quarterback for the Giants the rest of the 2017 season.

“When Coach Mac was let go and left the building, I talked to him before he left, and he had told me he felt like I deserved to play the rest of the season,” Smith said Monday. “He believed in me. A lot of people did. Guys wanted me to do well. But there are some things that are out of your control.

“I’m not gonna cry over spilled