Golden Nuggets: Backup QB battle

Wednesday, August 14th, 2019 edition of the Golden Nuggets, a daily compilation of San Francisco 49ers links from the Internet

By Billy Kerr@bkerr725 Aug 14, 2019, 2:00am PDT

Two days after the 49ers won their preseason game against the Dallas Cowboys, CJ Beathard missed practice on Tuesday due to a thumb injury. The injury occurred at the end of the game when CJ hit his hand on a helmet during a throw. He was likely behind Nick Mullens in the battle to be Jimmy Garoppolo’s backup before the injury and this gives Nick more chances to separate himself as the #2. CJ will need to play very well in the next 3 preseason games to give himself a chance to win the backup job over Mullens.

Nick Mullens proved last season that he could play in the NFL when he took over for CJ after 5 games. Nick started the final 8 games and led the team to a 3-5 record. He finished the season with 2,277 yards with 13 touchdowns, Those 2,277 yards was the 4th most thrown from a quarterback in his first 8 starts. Kyle Shanahan is letting the quarterback competition play out, but based on his play last season and the performance from both quarterbacks on Saturday, Nick Mullens should be leading in the competition.

While Nick is the likely favorite to win the job, the 49ers will probably keep 3 quarterbacks on the roster. Jimmy has yet to play a full season worth of games and is coming off an injury. Having 3 quarterbacks will give the team insurance should anything happen to Jimmy.

49ers links

Backup battle (Biderman)

Mullens ready to play against Fangio’s defense (Maiocco)

Roster projections (Madson)

CJ, Kittle, and Deebo miss practice (Madson)

Day 12 (Cohn)

CJ dealing with a thumb injury (Inman)

Day 12 recap (Biderman)

Robert Saleh talks about his players missing practices (Branch)

Injury report (Hutchinson)

D-line injuries causing a concern (Biderman)

Practice observations (Martin)