Quarterback was a hot commodity during the first 12 picks of last year's NFL Draft. Cam Newton, Jake Locker, Blaine Gabbert and Christian Ponder were all selected during that time.
This year doesn't expect to have the same result considering most are projecting that Stanford's Andrew Luck and Baylor's Robert Griffin III will be the only two quarterbacks selected in the first round.
But Gil Brandt, the former Dallas Cowboys vice president of player personnel, who is a senior analyst for NFL.com, says a local signal caller not only belongs in the first round but in the top 10.
During a recent podcast with SI.com's Peter King, Brandt said Texas A&M's Ryan Tannehill is a first-round talent.
"I think he's going to surprise people," Brandt said. "He didn't have a particularly good year. He's really been a quarterback only about a year and a half. … I think we have three quarterbacks, in my estimation, that are going to be pretty good in the years to come in the National Football League."
When King, who called Brandt, "the smartest guy that I know about the draft every year," asked if Tannehill could rise into the top half of the first round, Brandt didn't hesitate.
"Well, if I were picking, I got him there," he responded. "I've got him in my top 10, so I'm probably mistaken but I do think that when you watch him and you see his intelligence and his athletic ability and his hard work, I think you get a pretty good feeling for him.
"I think he deserves to be there and only time will tell. And I think if you remember last year, I did think that young man at Carolina was going to be pretty good."
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Follow Jon Machota on Twitter: @jonmachota
