FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- In two of the last three years, the New England Patriots have used significant draft-pick capital at the quarterback position, with Jimmy Garoppolo in the 2014 second round (No. 62 overall) and Jacoby Brissett in the 2016 third round (No. 91 overall).

Some believe it is good business to draft quarterbacks annually given the importance of the position, and the Patriots are balancing that line of thinking with a few other factors.

Tom Brady turns 39 on Aug. 3 and he's successfully fought off Father Time to this point, which the team hopes remains the case well into his 40s. But Bill Belichick and Co., naturally want to be well prepared if things change suddenly, sort of like what happened with Peyton Manning in 2015.

Then, as Belichick noted Saturday night, there's an aspect of future planning involved. Garoppolo's contract expires after the 2017 season and the team needs to groom his potential replacement should he depart in free agency or a trade has merit.

"There's always an element of team planning, especially at that position," Belichick said. "If you can, you try to look ahead a little bit. If you can't, then take it as it comes."

Along those lines, offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels shared insight on what the team generally looks for in college quarterbacks.

"The quarterback position is a difficult position to play; if you have intangibles, leadership qualities, the ability to learn … really when you're looking at these guys before the draft, you're trying to gauge whether they have the capacity to learn information," he said.

"You certainly can't go down there and test them on what they know and think that's going to translate into knowing our system the way we want them to know our stuff. The best thing we can do is seeing if we can try to get a handle on if they can learn information that is new to them, what kind of football character they have, if they have great leadership qualities; coming from the school they've been, the players followed them, the coaches enjoyed working with them.

"That's the best you can ask for with a kid who is going to come in and throw himself at this profession and try to do the best he can, is you want to be able to work hard, love the game, and be smart enough to try to learn it."

The Patriots feel good about Garoppolo in that regard. Meanwhile, the early reports on Brissett have been positive as well.

"Jacoby is a big, strong kid. He's got great football character. He's an intelligent kid. Learns well," McDaniels said. "He was recruited by Coach Weis down there in Florida before he went to North Carolina State, so we've spoken to quite a few people about him, and just his work ethic, his leadership, just the way he handles himself in the building, there are a lot of good traits to like."

In the ideal Patriots world, Brissett will have plenty of time to develop behind the scenes. McDaniels detailed the progression he sees for quarterbacks, and others.

"Year 1 is such a hard year for any rookie, because it seems like you're never caught up," he said. "And then Year 2, you feel like you kind of got a foundation, you have a good starting point but you're still trying to gain on everybody else. And then Year 3, if the players continue to work and do their job in the offseason when they're not here, you hope that they've closed that gap and they have an opportunity to go out there and play fast and not think much."

That's where Garoppolo is now. Brissett, meanwhile, is just getting started.

Add them to the mix behind Brady and the Patriots appear well-stocked at the game's most important position.