FOXBOROUGH — The more things change, the more they stay the same. Season after season, NFL teams holding the No. 1 overall draft position almost always pick a quarterback, confident that he’ll be able to turn around a struggling franchise.

Since 1998, quarterbacks have gone first in the draft 12 of 15 times. A few, such as Peyton Manning (’98), have dramatically changed a franchise’s fortunes. Others — Tim Couch (1999), JaMarcus Russell (2007) — never worked out, and are no longer in the league.