San Francisco 49ers: Predicting a Week 1 53-man roster, depth chart for 2018
By Peter Panacy
Quarterback (2)
Jimmy Garoppolo, C.J. Beathard
Again, another obvious depth-chart breakdown.
Jimmy Garoppolo turned a one-win 49ers squad into an undefeated unit over the final five games of 2017, including three wins over playoff-bound squads. There’s little questioning how much he impacted the offense, and it’s also safe to say the sky is the limit for his abilities with a full offseason’s understanding of Kyle Shanahan’s offense.
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But so much has been said of Garoppolo up to this point. Let’s take a look at his backup, C.J. Beathard, and the kind of role he’ll assume this season.
Beathard hopefully won’t see a meaningful snap in 2018. That would indicate an injury to Garoppolo. Yet quality backups are important at the NFL level (just ask Nick Foles and the Philadelphia Eagles), and Beathard showed enough to convince us he is one moving forward.
Sure, Beathard’s 54.9 completion percentage and 69.2 passer rating both ranked 31st out of 32 qualifying quarterbacks last season.
Those numbers are anything but inspiring. But when one considers the relatively simplistic offense he came from at Iowa, along with essentially being “thrown into the fire” in relief of former Niners starting QB Brian Hoyer last year, Beathard’s early struggles are a bit more understandable.
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Shanahan will expect improvement from the second-year pro during camp and the preseason. And if Beathard is ever called upon for an elongated stretch, those improvements will be valuable.