CBS

These aren't the New England Patriots you've grown accustomed to over the past two decades. In the aftermath of Tom Brady's departure, the franchise has fallen on hard times. For a minute, it looked as if the Patriots would land on their feet after securing a first-round quarterback, Mac Jones, in 2021 and reaching the postseason in his rookie season, but then the train fell off the tracks. Questionable coaching decisions and regressions from the roster resulted in the team missing the playoffs in each of the past two seasons, including a 4-13 campaign last year. That proved to be rock bottom for Robert Kraft, who then hit the reset button. The team parted ways with Bill Belichick, traded away Jones to the Jaguars, and installed Jerod Mayo as its new head coach to lead them into this new era. The next step into this new frontier is the NFL Draft where the team holds the No. 3 overall pick. Conventional wisdom would say that the team opts for a quarterback at that position, but there's been some chatter about New England possibly trading down to collect more assets. For the purposes of this seven-round mock draft, we'll spare you the popsicle headache of trades and simply go down the list of picks, which will begin with the Patriots -- hopefully -- finding their franchise QB of the future.