San Francisco 49ers: Predicting 53-man roster after 2020 NFL Draft

Quarterbacks (2)

Jimmy Garoppolo

Nick Mullens

Practice Squad: Broc Rutter

By now, I hope we’re all ready for two things to be over.

First are questions about who the starting quarterback will be for the 49ers for the foreseeable future. That name is quite obvious: Jimmy Garoppolo, who led the team to a Super Bowl in his first full year as a starter and will look to improve upon an admittedly up-and-down 2019 season.

The second is the three quarterbacks on the roster conundrum, which should have ended last season but most definitely needs to be over heading into 2020.

Third-string quarterback C.J. Beathard hasn’t played a game since 2018 and yet he was on the team all of last year, never once cracking the gameday roster. He’s scheduled to make just a little over $1 million if he makes the roster in 2020, but the team would save just over $940,000 if he is released.

The fact of the matter is Beathard being on the roster didn’t contribute to 49ers’ success in 2019, and he took up a roster spot that might have been better served adding depth at another position.

Granted, Nick Mullens hasn’t seen any meaningful game action since 2018 either, but he squarely outplayed Beathard during the 2019 preseason and has shown himself to be the more capable of the two to step in if something happens to Garoppolo.

I get the 49ers used a relatively high draft pick on him in 2017, but it’s pretty clear by now that if the team is down to starting games with its third quarterback, whether Beathard has NFL starting experience or not will matter very little.

Look for recently added UDFA quarterback Broc Rutter out of Division III North Central to make a run at the practice squad, although that is likely where he’ll remain all season.