Jimmy Garoppolo is one of Gil Brandt’s top young quarterbacks to build around

The San Francisco 49ers are going with Jimmy Garoppolo in the long term, it’s just a matter of when they eventually get a deal done. I suppose there’s a possible future where Garoppolo is franchise tagged and eventually hits the open market, but it doesn’t seem like things are going that way. Garoppolo is, for all intents and purposes, the quarterback of the future that Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch will build around.

His mechanics are very, very solid, and his play on a bad team thus far has been promising. I’ll take Garoppolo’s release over any other young quarterback, but there are some big-name guys under that label. Carson Wentz of the Philadelphia Eagles and Jared Goff of the Los Angeles Rams come to mind.

They also come to the mind of Gil Brandt of NFL.com. Brandt recently ranked the top young quarterbacks to build around, and it’s not surprising to see Wentz and Goff at the top of that list. There are two notable things that should interest fans: the placement of Garoppolo and the mention of C.J. Beathard.

This is what Brandt had to say about Garoppolo, who is ranked ahead of Blake Bortles and below Dak Prescott.

What Garoppolo -- who will turn 27 next November -- has accomplished in the last three weeks leads me to believe he's the kind of quarterback who can take you to theSuper Bowl. To win three games in a row while posting nearly 9 yards per attempt on a team that is average at best is very, very good. He doesn't have any demonstrable weaknesses, really. He's not as athletic as most of the quarterbacks ranked ahead of him here, and the body of work he's put forth so far is relatively limited. But he's the best quarterback of the 2014 class and should keep San Francisco on the right track.

It’s worth noting that Derek Carr, taken in the same draft as Garoppolo, was too old to qualify for these rankings. Patrick Mahomes, who hasn’t played in 2017, also doesn’t qualify under Brandt’s criteria. Ditto Cam Newton of the Carolina Panthers.

So we have the thoughts on Garoppolo, but what about Beathard? Brandt lists Beathard among three other quarterbacks as guys for whom you shouldn’t expect much. Beathard is listed alongside Brett Hundley of the Green Bay Packers, DeShone Kizer of the Cleveland Browns and Trevor Siemian of the Denver Broncos.

Personally, I think Beathard has upside, but I doubt he gets a chance at starting again in San Francisco. He also doesn’t have immediate trade value, so he’s either a 49ers backup or someone who is eventually released, as far as I’m concerned.