Golden Nuggets: Beathard or Garoppolo?

San Francisco 49ers quarterback C.J. Beathard had the best game of his career against the New York Giants. Now everyone wants to ease it on the Jimmy Garoppolo and see what C.J. Beathard has left.

First of all: Beathard was able to put up massive numbers against the New York Giants, a team that has all but quit on their head coach this season. It’s not exactly setting the world on fire with those numbers. Anyone remember Troy Smith? Against a putrid Denver Broncos defense, he went 12-16 with a 115 passer rating. After that performance, many wanted to anoint Smith as the future.

He wound up flaming out and is now out of the league. The gameday experience Beathard has is invaluable, but we’ve also seen what he does against more competent defenses, and the result isn’t anything wow-inducing. Part of me wants to see what he does against Seattle, but the other part wants to say, we already know—and at this point in his career he’s a serviceable backup. One thing is certain: That quarterback room has a chance to be quite strong. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see some split time between the two quarterbacks, but make no mistake: Garoppolo is better at this point, and Beathard has shown what happens in better defenses, namely how he doesn’t get injured.

I’m fine with Garoppolo starting, but having Beathard start against the Seahawks is only delaying the inevitable.

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