OK now, everybody sing along… “It’s the most wonderful time of the year…”

Why, because it’s school vacation week ahead?

Nah. Die-hard football fans know why.

NFL Draft Week.

Yes, the rumor level will be raised significantly, they’ll be bouncing off the walls so duck. Reach up in the air you’ll probably grab a few.

This time next week we’ll know a lot more about what the New England Patriots have been up to, as the draft will be winding down with third day picks. But the drama will reach its height this Thursday night with the first round. Ever since Tom Brady left, the any good quarterback has been linked to New England and Bill Belichick hasn’t budged except for when he knew he had no choice but to take Mac Jones at No. 15 in 2021. Oh, the Patriots, those who love to see themselves make news with hearsay, are trying to say New England will make a big splash and trade up for a quarterback when they already seemingly have two mediocre ones on the roster. Forget it.

First, you see a quarterback who is a can’t miss Trevor Lawrence type? We don’t. So the Patriots will more than likely stick with their formula of best player available, or best player available that plays a position they feel they need to replenish.

Like an offensive tackle. Or a defensive lineman. Or a cornerback.

If we had to take a guess, that would be where they would look. They’ve flopped at wide receiver, and it’s a position that has enough talent teams can probably find gems in the second and third round. But we’ll see; beauty is always in the eyes of the beholder, and the Patriots under personnel man Matt Groh have certainly done their homework on who they like via months of film work, interviews, the combine, private workouts, etc.

“If you’re taking a player in the first round, you’re hoping that player is going to come in and make an impact for you,” Groh said this past week at his annual pre-draft media gathering. “You can’t miss on those guys. That’s an investment. That’s a four or five-year investment. … You better do your homework and make sure you get those guys right.”

The Patriots are going with stopgaps in some spots on the offense line and took Cole Strange last year. The guess here is they’ll do it again. There are some behemoths out there such as Tennessee’s Darnell Wright (6-5, 333 pounds, yikes) or how about Ohio State’s Dawand Jones at 6-8, 374.

They could go corner, because while defense was a strength for New England, you have to figure it has to keep up with what the rest of the AFC East has done offensively. When looking at the draft, often that’s a good way to try to size up what the Patriots may be thinking as it could be based on how the division is looking. The Bills, Dolphins and maybe the Jets if they end up with Aaron Rodgers can beat you deep.

It’s supposed to be one of the deepest cornerback classes in years, even better than last year’s. Illinois CB Devon Witherspoon is the concensus best and could certainly be gone by the time the Patriots pick at No. 14. No doubt the Patriots have picked – as Groh said on Tuesday – the brain of new offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien about what he saw at Alabama, and they had a good one in 6-2, 190-pounder Eli Ricks. And there’ s Joey Porter Jr. of Penn State.

We just don’t get that big splash feel. And you wonder if the Patriots could trade back, but they really don’t need to do that with 11 picks. But eight of those are on Day 3, rounds four through seven – four of those are in the sixth round and they have no fifth rounder.

So we’ll see, as Bill Belichick will know down be playing Draft Poker once again.

Everyone thought that free agency is when the Patriots needed to make a big splash, but in reality there wasn’t much out there. The draft is when the pressure is on Belichick, right? That’s what Kraft always talks about, how poor the Patriots had drafted but how it’s gotten better the last couple of years.

This year? Hey we’ve got about five days to think about it.

Happy Draft Week. The Most Wonderful Time of the Year for many.

Tom King can be reached at tking@nashuatelegraph.com, or on twitter @Telegraph _TomK.