The San Francisco 49ers had to reshuffle the quarterback position after starter Jimmy Garoppolo went down with a season-ending knee injury. C.J. Beathard is now the starter going into Sunday’s game against the Los Angeles Chargers, and Nick Mullens serves as his backup.
But there’s always Plan C if either of those don’t work. Per Matt Maiocco, Kyle Juszczyk remains the third quarterback in emergencies. The 49ers haven’t carried a true third quarterback the past two seasons due to roster constraints, and Juszczyk has been the guy to serve in a pinch. What could happen if he’s called in? Well here’s what he told Maiocco:
“Last week when Jimmy got hurt, it flashed in my head a little,” Juszczyk said of the possibility of getting in a game at quarterback. “But, honestly, there’s comfort in knowing that not much is expected from me. I’m sure it would be a very basic package. I’m sure I’d be handing the ball off, mostly. And if I did throw, it would be mostly three-step sorts of things.”
Part of me wants the 49ers to do well and get out of Los Angeles with little issues as possible so we can fully gauge what they have going forward.
But the other, and more chaotic side of me says, “Nooooooooooo! Forget all of that! Let’s put Juszczyk in there and watch that circus.”
The only way anyone is going to see Juszczyk is if both Beathard and Mullens are knocked out of the game. At that point, it’s mostly a formality where the 49ers would be focusing less on winning and more on trying to escape Los Angeles with what little they have left. As interesting as a Juszczyk game could be seeing him behind center, he just won’t match up to the game where the New York Jets had to put their punter in—and the punter actually did quite well. He still managed to realize he was the punter and cough up the game, but he made it one of the better games that weekend.
Offensive weapon indeed.