The San Francisco 49ers quarterback position remains both a question mark and a fairly settled group all in one. We know more or less what the depth chart will look like in 2017, but we don’t know what it might look like two or three years from now. The team signed Brian Hoyer and Matt Barkley, drafted C.J. Beathard, and signed rookie free agent Nick Mullens in a complete overhaul of the position.
Beathard was a surprise pick, but Kyle Shanahan has had a lot of positive things to say about him. He likes his accuracy and toughness, and likes that he worked in a pro style offense at Iowa. He sees him as a guy the coaching staff can work with to develop, and potentially turn him into something useful.
If you’re looking for optimism about his future, I present my new favorite video! Someone under the YouTube username QB Film Room took some time to break down Beathard film, and offered up some serious praise for the quarterback. He talks about his precision, and his trust and anticipation for his receivers. He talks about Beathard’s footwork, and compares it to that of Drew Brees. He also talks about his “innate Drew Brees-like feel to throw the football.”
It’s amusing at times because as he is praising him, bad things are happening. At one point he talks about his athleticism scrambling for yards, and at the same moment, he is hit and fumbles the ball. It’s more about process than results, but it still made me snicker a bit.
There are positive traits that Beathard brings to the table, but his evaluation is definitely more about process than results for the time being. There are plenty of things to watch in the preseason, but how Beathard looks, and the kind of work he gets during those four games will be a big one, even if it will have little to no bearing on the 2017 season.