UCF quarterback Blake Bortles is in play to be the No. 1 pick in the draft, and he has fans in NFL Media draft analyst Mike Mayock and NFL Network analyst Brian Billick.
Bortles is the only one of the top four quarterbacks who is working out at the NFL Scouting Combine. Teddy Bridgewater, Derek Carr and Johnny Manziel decided not to throw, though Carr and Manziel did run the 40-yard dash.
"With every exposure I get of this guy, I get more impressed," Billick said of Bortles.
Billick said Bortles (6-foot-5, 232 pounds) had been "very impressive" in interviews and that "I don't see any negatives."
Mayock said he thought Bortles was "a 'franchise' quarterback" and "fits what [Houston Texans coach] Bill O'Brien likes" in his quarterbacks.
But Bortles has some issues, Mayock said. The biggest negative is "inconsistent ball location, especially on deep routes."
Mayock commented on some tape of Bortles and was highly complimentary. But he also showed a few clips of Bortles making some poor throws on deep balls. Mayock said he had seen a lot of tape on Bortles and that he saw some "horribly" underthrown deep throws.
Mike Huguenin can be reached at mike.huguenin@nfl.com. You also can follow him on Twitter @MikeHuguenin.
