Hard no.
I'm not taking a QB if it's not at 3 or late rounds, taking a guy whose upside is probably fringe starter is a waste of a premium pick.
If you want to draft a QB you take the best one you can at #3, if you don't want to do that you're not drafting your future starter, either sign someone, or trade (or if you really believe in it you could try to fix Mac I guess).
Edit- to me, Penix is highly unlikely to ever be better than Jacoby Brissett. But a OT or WR I get at 35 could well be a perennial starter, maybe an All-Pro if I get very lucky on development. Also... real chance 6 QBs go before pick 35 anyway, teams are pretty desperate.
This is my thinking as well. Either home run swing on a QB early in round 1 or take a long shot in rounds 5-7 and basically resign yourself to a 5win (at best) season while you kick the QB decision down the road
Anyone who thinks this team can accumulate enough draft capital to make up for a bottom tier veteran QB and be anything other than awful next year is kidding themselves. They have Allen x2, Tua x2, Rodgers x2, Stroud, Stafford, Herbert, Purdy, Burrow, Caleb Williams (presumably), Richardson, Levis, Murray and Lawrence (plus Seattle) next year on the schedule
So you end up with a top 3 pick again in what is likely going to be a worse class of QB’s (although obviously can change).
And then next year you have a need to replace Andrews, Judon (likely) and big decisions on other key players (Barmore and Peppers) and on and on
which isn’t to say that a rookie QB is going to catapult the 2024 Pats into relevancy. But most rookie QB’s need a year or two of development and the Pats will have a perpetual need to load up on talent in multiple position groups. That’s the NFL for you.
Get “The Guy” at QB while you have a premium pick in a great QB class, fill the other holes as best as possible and if you suck again, entertain a trade down in 2025.
Isn’t the ideal solution to sign a Brissett and draft a Maye/Daniels/McCarthy? Best case, your veteran pickups and other picks make the offense reasonably competent as to not destroy the young QB’s confidence and he gets his development year out of the way. Worst case, the offense is a mess and Brissett/whichever bridge QB can take the lumps as needed.