I don’t agree about them picking top 3-5 next year. It’s really hard to be that bad back to back years. They hadn’t picked top 5 since 1994!
I agree the odds are heavy that they don't pick top 5 again next year, but looking at the Pats given their run of excellence, because they had their QB isn't really the way to do it.
When they had that 4th pick in 1994, they had the #1 pick the year before that, so they had back to back picks in the top 4 because they didn't have their QB, and then their rookie QB needed a year to get going.
But when you look at teams that don't pick or miss on QB's, there are a bunch of them that constantly end up with high draft picks:
Jets: Starting in 2017, they picked #6, #3, #3, #11, #2, #4
Browns had back to back #1's
Detroit: Picked #3 in 2002, #2 in 2003, #1 in 2009, #2 in 2010, then went #3, #7, #2 from 2020-2022
Carolina would be picking in the top 8 for like the 5th year in a row if they didn't trade that pick
Atlanta drafts in the top 8 almost every year (and usually 8th, which is weird)
I think it sucks to think about this in the context of the Patriots, because these are the organizations we think of as bad organizations. What they really are is teams that couldn't find a quarterback during those time periods. There are bad teams every year, but missing or not taking a QB when you have the opportunity turns you from a bad team into a bad organization.
They just have to find their QB this year, or we're going to be just like one of these teams we spent 20 years laughing at.