One preseason game is in the books, and in many ways, that opener offers the best hints into which players might be left standing as part of the Giants’ 53-man roster after the Aug. 29 cutdown.

The 21-16 loss to the Lions in Detroit was an opportunity for many youngsters to show their stuff and provide the coaching staff and front office with valuable roster makeup information to input into the decision-making process.

The Giants will use more starters in their second preseason game, Friday night against the Panthers, and figure to largely go conservative in the third and final preseason game on Aug. 26 against the Jets, opting to minimize risk of injury to anyone who has a lock on a roster spot.

With that, here is a 53-man roster projection, with the caveat that things can change in the next two weeks, based on injury and player performance:

Quarterbacks (2): Daniel Jones, Tyrod Taylor

Might as well start off with the most obvious position on the team. In his first training camp after signing a four-year contract worth $160 million, Jones has taken a step forward this summer. His passes have been accurate and on-time as he looks downfield more aggressively for big plays.

Taylor returns as the backup, and as there is little chance the Giants will keep three quarterbacks on the roster, rookie Tommy DeVito’s best outcome is likely to land on the practice squad.

Running backs (4): Saquon Barkley, Matt Breida, Eric Gray, Jashaun Corbin

Barkley did not participate in the voluntary offseason workout program while his contract negotiations were ongoing, but he didn’t miss a beat once he signed his one-year deal and reported with his teammates to camp. He is in fine shape and the coaching staff has not overused him this summer.

The Giants like Breida’s leadership traits in the locker room and on the field.

Gray is a natural pass-catcher who will need to find his way as an NFL runner. He is being groomed for kick-return and punt-return duties.

Corbin, a contributor on special teams, seems to have the upper hand on Gary Brightwell and newcomer James Robinson.

Wide receivers (6): Darius Slayton, Parris Campbell, Isaiah Hodgins, Jalin Hyatt, Sterling Shepard, Cole Beasley

Campbell is in his first year with the team and looks primed to be heavily involved.

Hyatt’s speed makes him an immediate vertical threat as a rookie as he fine-tunes the rest of his game.

Shepard, coming off ACL surgery, has avoided any setbacks and is a savvy and — this is important — inexpensive veteran.

Will Wan’Dale Robinson be ready to return for Week 1 after coming off ACL surgery last December? That seems a bit optimistic, but he has made strong progress. If Robinson is ready, he could supplant the 34-year old Beasley, who is looking to continue his NFL career. Or the Giants could keep seven players here.

Tight ends (3): Darren Waller, Daniel Bellinger, Lawrence Cager

Waller is the summer sensation, too big and too fast and too athletic to cover in practice. Can he turn back the clock to his brilliant 2019 and 2020 seasons with the Raiders?

Bellinger had a solid rookie year and should benefit from the attention given to Waller when they are on the field at the same time. Cager offers pass-catching ability.

Offensive line (9): Andrew Thomas, Mark Glowinski, John Michael Schmitz, Ben Bredeson, Evan Neal, Josh Ezeudu, Shane Lemieux, Marcus McKethan, Matt Peart

This is a position group filled with possible pitfalls.

Does Neal make a big leap forward at right tackle after an up-and-down rookie year? Is Schmitz ready to be a full-time NFL starting center as a rookie? Does Glowinski have a lock on the right guard job and is Bredeson set at left guard, or is Ezeudu going to be mixed in and used in some sort of guard rotation?

There aren’t many questions about Thomas, who recently signed a $117.5 million contract extension as the franchise left tackle.

Newly signed Julien Davenport will challenge Peart for the swing tackle role.

Defensive line (5): Dexter Lawrence, Leonard Williams, A’Shawn Robinson, Rakeem Nunez-Roches, D.J. Davidson

Lawrence is coming off his best season, which is why he was in line for a four-year, $90 million contract extension. Williams missed games because of an injury for the first time in his career last season, but is just 29 years old, despite this being his ninth year in the league.

Robinson and Nunez-Roches are veterans signed as run-stoppers.

Davidson, a fifth-round pick in 2022, tore his ACL in Week 5 of his rookie year, and was activated this week off the physically unable to perform list. Can rookie seventh-round pick Jordon Riley force his way in here?

Outside linebacker (5): Kayvon Thiboddeaux, Azeez Ojulari, Jihad Ward, Oshane Ximines, Tomon Fox

Thibodeaux is impressively active with his snaps and is diligent in his work on his all-around game. He wants more sacks after getting four as a rookie.

The key with Ojulari is health and availability. He has to prove he can stay on the field after making it into just seven games in 2022. He is a natural pass rusher.

Undrafted rookie Habakkuk Baldonado has a chance to stick somewhere. This is not a spot with great depth.

Inside linebacker (5): Bobby Okereke, Micah McFadden, Darian Beavers, Carter Coughlin, Cam Brown

Okereke was the big-ticket free agent acquisition and his role is to be on the field for first, second and third down. The plan is for him to lead the team in tackles in an improved run defense.

McFadden’s strong summer has pushed him slightly ahead of Beavers for the other starting spot, but there will be plenty of times Okereke is the only inside linebacker on the field.

Coughlin and Brown are almost exclusively special-teams contributors. There could definitely be additions to this position when cuts are made around the league.

Cornerbacks (6): Adoree’ Jackson, Deonte Banks, Tre Hawkins, Cor’Dale Flott, Darnay Holmes, Amani Oruwariye

Would defensive coordinator Wink Martindale actually go with two rookies (Banks and Hawkins) as his perimeter corners? Yeah, he might. If that happens, the team’s top corner, Jackson, moves inside to the slot when there are three corners on the field, which is an interesting strategic gamble. Banks has all the physical tools required to be a top player.

The ascension of Hawkins, a sixth-round pick from Old Dominion, is one of the top stories coming out of training camp.

Safeties (5): Xavier McKinney, Jason Pinnock, Dane Belton, Bobby McCain, Nick McCloud

Three of these guys will be on the field at the same time a ton for Martindale. Pinnock has seized the starting job alongside McKinney with a strong showing in camp. He gets to the ball.

Belton has been the best ballhawk on the defense all summer, and could be a second-year player ready to break out.

Specialists (3): Graham Gano, Jamie Gillan, Casey Kreiter

Gano, at age 36 and entering his 14th NFL season, does not appear to have lost much, if any, leg strength. He is as reliable as they come as a place kicker. Gillan was re-signed after an inconsistent 2022 season that ended better than it started. He is a talent, but can outkick his punt coverage. Kreiter is a highly reliable long snapper.

Want to catch a game? The Giants schedule with links to buy tickets can be found here.

Preseason games are what they are, increasingly used to figure out the back end of a roster, with presumed starters often safely tucked away in the protective custody of the sideline. This is why so many teams are opting to participate in joint practices. The Giants and Lions spent two days on the field together in Allen Park, Mich., leading into their preseason opener, and the work together in the joint practices was extensive and highly productive. Both sides praised the experience.

Not every franchise, however, embraces the cooperative benefits of spending time on the field with a different team. Pete Carroll has been coaching for decades, and he is not a proponent of joint practices. The Seahawks do not do them.

“I think we control practice better the way we do it,’’ said Carroll, who is about to start his 14th season in Seattle. “Look how hard we were running against each other the other day. More than that, we cherish the preseason games. We use the preseason games.

“I’ve done those practices before, but we feel like we can keep our focus and stay within the stuff we need to do.”

Sure, the Giants were inconvenienced, spending five days in the Detroit area, busing from their hotel to the practice fields. Before one of the practices with the Lions, Giants players could even be seen waiting in line to get into a trailer that served as the restroom for the “visiting’’ team. But often, head coaches like having their team put in uncomfortable situations to better prepare them for the inevitable unexpected issues that arise during a season.

Carroll is not a big advocate of planned inconvenience.

“There’s been a couple of teams that’s asked [for joint practices] over the years. I think they know we don’t do it, so we don’t get a lot of it,’’ Carroll said. “I don’t want to travel and stay in somebody else’s place for a week. It’s crazy to me. We’re always

open to it. We do talk about it. It’s not like we’re closed-minded about it. We haven’t had the right setup.”

Different strokes for different coaches.

Here are two questions that have come up recently that we will attempt to answer as accurately as possible:

The Giants did not run the ball well in their preseason opener. Do they have anyone who can get the job done behind Barkley?

This is a fair concern. It is unwise to make too big a deal of stats in the preseason, but the running game was poor against the Lions. Of course, the running backs were operating for the most part behind second-team and third-team offensive linemen in the second half. Still, the Giants averaged 3.7 yards per rushing attempt. Take away Corbin’s 33-yard run and the average dropped to 2.3 yards on 21 rushing attempts.

Breida is Barkley’s backup, and though he only had one rushing attempt, he has proven to be a capable backup in the NFL. Gray looked a bit tentative in his unofficial NFL debut, gaining just nine yards on his five carries. It could have been first-game jitters. The prevailing feeling is the Giants’ running game will go as far as Barkley takes it.

We’ve heard so much about Waller in his first summer with the Giants. How has this affected Bellinger, who was solid as a rookie last season?

Waller’s physical gifts and athletic ability separate him from all but a handful of players at his position, but there is certainly a place on the roster and on the field for Bellinger. He showed plenty of promise as a rookie and looks as if he can be a strong two-way (receiving and blocking) tight end for years to come. He’s hauled in his share of touchdown passes this summer and, given the anticipated extra attention that defenses will be forced to give to Waller, it will not be shocking to see Bellinger in the end zone more than a few times. The Giants will use plenty of 12-personnel with two tight ends on the field at the same time. Bellinger has the size and skill to make his presence felt.