San Francisco 49ers: What C.J. Beathard needs to do to get his starting job back

For now, the San Francisco 49ers will continue to start Nick Mullens at quarterback. But here’s how his now-backup, C.J. Beathard, can get his starting job back in 2018.

San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan confirmed to reporters Tuesday (h/t 49ers Webzone) that Nick Mullens would remain the team’s starting quarterback heading into the Week 11 bye.

Not 2017 third-round NFL Draft pick C.J. Beathard, who all but lost those duties in Week 9 against the Oakland Raiders due to a wrist injury.

“Nick Mullens is our starter until I say differently,” Shanahan said. “Going about it that way and that’s how it will continue to be.”

Why not? As Niner Noise pointed out earlier, Mullens has something Beathard doesn’t: watchability. This, despite an expected two-interception regression during the Niners’ 27-23 Week 10 loss to the New York Giants on Monday Night Football, although it’s hard to totally pin those picks on Mullens.

Still, Mullens’ ascent comes at Beathard’s expense. So, if we’re trying to take Beathard’s corner here, what would the second-year pro need to do to get his starting job back?

First, the obvious: Mullens would have to lose the job. But that’s out of Beathard’s control.

What’s under Beathard’s control, however, are a number of key factors the quarterback can attempt to master between now and the end of the season. A good chunk of these are directly related to Beathard’s weaknesses. Let’s start there.

Managing Pressure

It dates back to his college days at Iowa, but Beathard has never handled pressure well. Over five-plus games this season, per Pro Football Focus, Beathard’s passer rating when handling pressure is a lowly 45.8, compared to a solid 94.8 when the pressure is absent.

There’s a lot going into this. For starters, understanding presnap defensive alignments and recognizing where the pressure is going to come from is essential. Beathard wasn’t good at this at Iowa, and the complexity of NFL rushes makes this maturation process all the more difficult.

Albeit a limited sample, Mullens’ passer rating under pressure is only 36.1.

Getting the Ball Out Quickly

Mullens has Beathard beat here.

According to NFL’s NextGen Stats, Beathard’s average time to throw is 2.61 seconds this season. Again, a limited sample size. But this from Mullens’ Week 9 efforts against the Raiders, courtesy of The Athletic’s David Lombardi:

A quarter of a second is a long time within the pocket. And while Beathard might never get his time down below 2.5, shaving off a few tenths of a second would do him an infinite amount of good.

Especially when matched up against the pocket-management problems he’s had.

Get the 49ers Wide Receivers Involved

If Beathard wants to truly separate himself from Mullens going forward, he should make any and all efforts to get San Francisco’s wide receiver corps involved on a much larger basis.

This has been difficult for all three of the Niners’ starting quarterbacks this year. 49ers wideouts have accounted for just 1,190 of the 2,482 receiving yards on offense this season — just under 48 percent.

Granted, tight end George Kittle is a bona fide playmaker. But if Beathard can begin to develop chemistry with other pass-catching targets, the quarterback’s stock will rise heavily when given the chance to start again.

Beathard will have to wait until Week 12 to see if that chance winds up revealing itself, though.

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