Brady successor not part of deal(s) for Patriots

ARLINGTON, Texas — The Patriots did a whole lot of wheeling and dealing Friday, only to draft one player, who still wasn’t Tom Brady’s successor.

Trade master Bill Belichick entered the day with two second-round picks and another in the third. He sent the third-round pick (95th overall) to the 49ers in exchange for offensive tackle Trent Brown and a fifth-round pick (143rd overall).

Their first pick of the day was supposed to come at No. 43, but they traded that to the Lions in exchange for the 51st pick and a fourth-rounder (117th overall). Their phones remained active, and they soon sent that 51st pick to the Bears for another fourth-round pick (105th overall) and a 2019 second-round pick.

The Patriots finally decided they wanted to make a pick and had to trade back up to do it, getting the Buccaneers’ pick at No. 56 while giving up their 63rd and 117th picks. Once the dust cleared, they announced they had drafted Florida cornerback Duke Dawson, who fills a need after they lost Malcolm Butler to free agency.

After all of that, however, the Patri- ots entered Saturday still without a new quarterback to groom behind the 40-year-old Brady, who is signed through 2019. The only other QB on their roster is 32-year-old Brian Hoyer, who signed with the Patriots last season after they controversially traded supposed QB-of-the-future Jimmy Garoppolo to the 49ers.

Five quarterbacks were drafted in the first round Thursday, when the Patriots had two picks and used neither of them on a signal caller. They had been linked to Lamar Jackson in the days leading up to the draft, but passed on him twice before the Ravens swooped in to take him at No. 32.

Potential day-two quarterback targets included Oklahoma State’s Mason Rudolph, Richmond’s Kyle Lauletta and Washington State’s Luke Falk. Only Rudolph was drafted on Friday, by the Steelers at No. 76, while Lauletta and Falk could be options again Saturday in the final four rounds.

A year ago at the draft, the Patriots looked well-stocked for the future with Garoppolo (a second-round pick in 2014) and Jacoby Brissett (a third-round pick in 2016), but traded both of them in a three-month span last season as Brady marched on to his third MVP award.