Blaine Gabbert was expected to go high, higher than Locker. Mike Mayock had Gabbert as the best QB in the history of the NFL Draft, in the History of the NFL period.
Ideally? Yes. Realistically? No. Because of the order of the draft, a few teams who needed a QB and who were seriously looking at Locker over Gabbert had higher picks than those teams that were more serious about Gabbert. It was pretty much widely reported that Tennessee was either going to go with Fairley or Locker.
Jacksonville scheduled a pre-draft visit with Locker, but not Gabbert, and thus there didn't really appear to be any interest in Gabbert from the Jags. It makes sense, considering that Jacksonville's offense has centered around Garrard, a rushing QB, and Gabbert just can't run; Locker can.
Similarly, Minnesota brought Locker in for a workout after seeing him at pro day, but didn't do the same with Gabbert (or at least I don't recall them doing so). I'm not sure why, although I do know that various NFL coaches and personnel have stated that Locker's attitude and leadership personality were causing them to reconsider moving him up on their QB list (his "intangibles," as they called it), so maybe this is what Minnesota saw.
So yes, Gabbert was, in theory, poised to be the most "talented" QB, and thus would theoretically go higher in the draft, but in reality, the teams that needed QBs and picked early just weren't as interested in him, so no one (at least not me) realistically expected Gabbert to go higher than Locker. This is especially the case given that Tennessee showed an extraordinary amount of interest in him, and Tennessee was the team with the earliest draft pick who desperately needed a QB (after Carolina, obviously).