Reese to critics: We have line faith in maligned Flowers & Hart

You may not like the plan the Giants are putting together with their offensive line, but general manager Jerry Reese insists there is a plan, rather than the ignorance-is-bliss fear many fans believe is going down.

There is hope around the Giants that the two starting tackles, Ereck Flowers and Bobby Hart, are ready to show significant improvement after a couple of years of growing pains. Flowers is 23 and a two-year starter; Hart, 22, started one game as a rookie and 12 last season.

“It’s almost kind of developmental, some ups and downs as young players but we expect these guys to make a significant jump this season, because they’ve been in the league already,’’ Reese sa i d Monday on WFAN. “Those guys could have been in this draft class.’’

The Giants did not like the offensive linemen in this year’s draft class — the only player they thought had the chance to be an immediate starter was Garett Bolles of Utah, who was taken with the 20th overall pick by the Broncos, three picks before the Giants took tight end Evan Engram.

Reese, though, said he is encouraged by three rookie offensive linemen he is adding into the mix. In the sixth round, he took Adam Bis- nowaty, a four-year starter at left tackle at Pittsburgh. The Giants then quickly jumped into the undrafted freeagent pool and landed tackle Chad Wheeler of USC and guard Jessamen Dunker of Tennessee State.

The Giants sh o we d Wheeler how much they liked him by giving him a $20,000 signing bonus — quite high for an undrafted player. Scouts tabbed Wheeler as a fifth- or sixthround value but some injury concerns and a red flag from his past hurt him.

The 6-foot-7, 306-pound Wheeler was a four-year starter at left tackle for the Trojans. In December 2015, Los Angeles Police responded to a call about a man punching walls and windows at his apartment complex, possibly under the influence. Wheeler ran from the apartment and got into an altercation with police, who restrained him by hitting him with bean-bag rounds. Wheeler was not arrested but was transported to a hospital for psychiatric evaluation.

“I think probably the reason he didn’t get drafted, there were some off-f ield issues people were concerned with,’’ Reese said. “To get him as a free agent, we feel he has a chance, if he has his head on right.’’

Reese said Dunker is “a big 320-pound guy who looks like he’s 290, really good athlete, one of the best

athletes we saw in this offensive line draft class.’’

Usually, Reese prefers to stay away from comparisons, but he called Bisnowaty “a David Diehl-type of guy,’’ referring to the 2003 fifthround draft pick who went on to become a starter for a decade at various positions on the offensive line.

“He’s tough, he’s big, he’s gonna bring the same intensity every day, you know what you’re gonna get every day from this guy,’’ Reese said of Bisnowaty. “I just saw guys in this past [veteran] free-agent group make millions of dollars with the same skill set.’’

Ben McAdoo on WFAN conf irmed what seemed to be a foregone conclusion: Paul Perkins, entering his second NFL season, will be the starting running back.

“We feel Paul Perkins is gonna grow,” McAdoo said. “He didn’t even have an offseason last year.”