Geno’s dad receives death threat

Geno Smith being named starting quarterback over Eli Manning for last weekend’s game against the Raiders sent Giants nation into a rage and apparently pushed one fan over the edge.

Shortly after Smith told his father, Geno Smith Jr., the news, the elder Smith received an anonymous call warning him his life was in danger if his son made the start for the Giants.

“I was just at work. I answered and he was like, ‘Geno?’ ” Smith Jr. told NJ Advance Media on Friday. “So I just listened, and he was like, ‘Is this Geno?’ I was like, ‘Yeah.’ He was like, ‘Your son better not start or we’re going to kill you.’ I kind of just laughed and then he hung up.”

Smith, 43, said he was at work overseeing hurricane relief efforts in Miami when the call came in from a man who sounded as if he was in his late 20s and had a Missouri area code. Though surprised by the threat, Smith said he didn’t take it seriously and advised his son to do the same.

“I guess it was an emotional time with Eli not starting,” he said. “I don’t know if it’s that. I don’t know if they just hate Geno that much. I just don’t know. I couldn’t tell you.”

Father and son didn’t feel the need to notify the police of the “one-time” threat. His father’s calm reaction allowed Smith to prepare for his first Giants start without letting the outside negativity weigh on his mind.

“I think my dad handled it well,” he said. “He kind of just hung up the phone. It’s just kind of shameful that would be happening because of someone doing their job. When he told me that, I was like, ‘What?’ But you kind of get a sense of comfortability from him. He was like, ‘Man, it’s nothing, don’t worry about it. Just do your thing. Play your game.’ So that was why I was able to be easy with it.”