5 options at quarterback if 49ers lose Jimmy Garoppolo to injury

Option No. 2: 49ers give C.J. Beathard one last shot

It’s anyone’s guess as to why. But Kyle Shanahan surely has an affinity for C.J. Beathard.

This, despite the fourth-year pro owning a career 1-9 record and spending all of 2019 as the third-string quarterback on the weekly inactive list behind Jimmy Garoppolo and Nick Mullens.

So, why would Beathard even remotely be considered an option if Garoppolo suffered an elongated injury?

Again, it goes back to Shanahan’s preference for Beathard, at least in terms of keeping him on the roster last season. Shanahan has long admired Beathard’s toughness, and the latter was the lone signal-caller Shanahan wanted in the 2017 NFL Draft.

That was probably a mistake thought, considering the Kansas City Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes and Houston Texans’ Deshaun Watson were in that class, too.

Nevertheless, Beathard getting one more crack at starting in the wake of a Jimmy G injury has to be taken into account even though Beathard’s career 57.3 completion percentage and 74.6 passer rating were among the league’s worst between 2017 and 2018.

Yet those Niners teams were nowhere near as good as what San Francisco is fielding in 2020.

And perhaps that winds up being the difference maker for Beathard, as long as the 49ers stay with in-house options.

They don’t have to, though.