The Patriots’ fate hinges on a quarterback and the NFL draft

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Quick-hit thoughts and notes around the New England Patriots and NFL:

1. All about QB: Former Patriots linebacker Rob Ninkovich, who still resides in Massachusetts, has been tuned in to local sports-talk radio over the last week. He’s noted how the general fan and media response to the Patriots’ moves in the first week of free agency have been negative.

Ninkovich, who has seldom hesitated to criticize his old team in his former role as an ESPN analyst, views it a bit differently.

“I hear people saying they’re re-signing all these guys and they were 4-13 last year, so why would they do that? To me, the guys they targeted and brought back, I think they are key pieces. And they’re getting guys out of the building they think are the reason they were a four-win team,” he said.

“But the biggest thing to me is that no matter what they did, it’s the draft that is going to make or break their offseason. This could be a home run. At the same time, the scary part is that if they draft a quarterback at No. 3, and he’s not the guy, they’re in major trouble.”

Ninkovich succinctly sums up why director of scouting Eliot Wolf, who has the final personnel say in the first year of the post-Bill Belichick era, is among the NFL executives with the brightest spotlight shining on him.

The bottom line: If Wolf and the Patriots’ coaching and scouting staffs ultimately have conviction in a quarterback at No. 3, they should race their card up to commissioner Roger Goodell on April 25, and then have offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt and quarterbacks coach T.C. McCartney immediately put a developmental plan…