AJ McCarron

Alabama quarterback AJ McCarron answers a question during a news conference at the NFL football scouting combine in Indianapolis, Friday, Feb. 21, 2014. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

INDIANAPOLIS – It's a reality that many are not ready to ponder.

You can hide your eyes, pull a blanket over your head, and attempt to tune out the noise, but the day will eventually come when Tom Brady is no longer the quarterback for the New England Patriots. And with Brady turning 37 before the start of next season, it may be time to start preparing for that reality.

That means at some point the team is going to have to think about drafting and developing another quarterback, as the Patriots attempted to do with Ryan Mallett in 2011.

There may have been a point when the former third-round pick was viewed as the heir to Brady's throne, but that view was premature and was always unlikely to materialize. Now it is almost certain not to happen. Mallett is entering the final year of his contract and will likely have to leave via free agency to compete for a starting job, if he isn't traded first.

If Mallett sticks around, the Patriots may choose to wait another year before diving back into the waters. But if New England manages to move him (the current asking price is believed to be a second-round pick), then it may be time to get wet.

If the latter scenario proves true, successfully finding a developmental quarterback who could eventually become something more could prove to be a tricky proposition.

Since Brady is signed through 2017 and showing no visible signs of wear, if New England dives into the quarterback pool, barring a surprise move, it likely would not do so until the later rounds of the draft. There, the Patriots would be forced to gamble on growth potential instead of a more proven commodity.

"I think you have to see the potential. You have to have the raw potential of the arm strength and the ability to move around and to process information," Broncos general manager John Elway, who has drafted quarterbacks in the second and seventh rounds in the last two drafts, said. "Those are the three things you try to find out about in a quarterback.

"It's up to us in that point in time to coach them and see if they can mature and become the player you want them to be at the position. You have to have that ability, first, and then hopefully we can get it out of you."

Quite often, teams are unable to get a return out of late-round picks. Many of the starting quarterbacks last year were selected within the top 75 picks of the draft, with Brady (199), Seattle's Russell Wilson (75), Philadelphia's Nick Foles (88), and Houston's Matt Schaub (90) serving as some of the other guys.

The reason for that is because many of the quarterbacks who slip that far down the chart are flawed and destined to serve as backups. It's not often that someone like Brady falls through the cracks. And to land someone like Foles, Wilson or Schaub, that would mean taking a quarterback within the first three rounds.

For the Patriots to pull the trigger that early, Mallett would likely have to be moved first and one of New England's top-graded quarterbacks would have to slide down the board. Otherwise, the team may be content to draft a backup in the later rounds and wait for another opportunity to land a potential Brady heir.>

But even if the stars align this May, there is no is guarantee that the Patriots would be motivated to draft a quarterback within the first three rounds. However, it's not out of the realm of possibility, especially if someone like former Alabama quarterback AJ McCarron slides out of the first two rounds.

McCarron, who likens his playing style to Brady's, completed 66.9 percent of his passes with 77 touchdowns and seven interceptions and led the Crimson Tide to two national titles during his four years at Alabama, yet many draft projections have him going anywhere from the late first round to somewhere in the third. The reason for this, according to McCarron, at least, is due to concerns about his arm strength.

"Everybody tries to, all the experts, try to knock me on my deep ball," McCarron said. "(They) try to say my arm's not strong. My arm's strong enough. I mean I can throw the ball 65 yards. But I had a bad habit of releasing the ball out wide. Not staying vertical on it. If you go back and watch my film, you can see the film doesn't lie on that."

McCarron claims to have fixed his mechanics and hopes to answer any questions about his arm strength at the combine and during Alabama's Pro Day. If for some reason he is unable to prove himself, he said he would be happy with wherever he is drafted and would welcome the opportunity to learn behind a more accomplished quarterback.

He would like it even more if that location happened to be New England.

"If I had the chance to go there and sit behind Brady for however long and learn from one of the best to ever play the game, that'd be an awesome experience," he said. "It's almost like New England is the Alabama of pro football. Coach (Nick) Saban learned under coach (Bill) Belichick. So it would be almost like déjà vu in a way."

And drafting another potential Brady successor in the third round would feel like déjà vu for New England.