Well, it’s something!
The San Francisco 49ers have few things to be listed as No. 1, but when they do, it’s something to celebrate. We have the No. 1 tight per Pro Football Focus and now, according to our own SB Nation’s Christian D’Andrea has created tiers of backup quarterbacks. The 49ers make the first tier with Nick Mullens. A tier including Indianapolis Colts’ Jacoby Brisset, Los Angeles Chargers’ Tyrod Taylor, New Orleans Saints’ Teddy Bridgewater, Washington’s Case Keenum, and Tennessee Titans’ Ryan Tannehill.
One thing: We truly don’t know who the backup quarterback is yet. That is to be decided in training camp in a few months. The battle is between C.J. Beathard and Mullens, but many of you are ready to see the 49ers move onto Mullens right now.
First, here’s what D’Andrea said about Mullens:
Mullens threw for more than 280 yards per game in relief of Jimmy Garoppolo and C.J. Beathard, making an impressive leap from practice squad veteran to league-average quarterback. Tannehill takes too many sacks and is an injury-prone backup to an injury-prone starter, but when healthy he can give you enough production to win around him.
The tier is one of quarterbacks who “could acceptably start in worse situations,” and that sounds like a good description for Mullens.
The 49ers backup quarterback battle gets going when training camp starts. Given that he’s been benched twice, the 49ers may want to cut ties with Beathard sooner rather than later given that they’ve shown they don’t have faith in him to get the job done. Mullens really has developed as a quarterback given he began on the practice squad as an undrafted free agent two years ago.
Backup quarterback isn’t the greatest problem to have, but knowing you at least don’t have issues with a second signal caller coming in for a game or a quarter for whatever the reason is refreshing. Just so much as the 49ers don’t lose their starter three weeks into the season.
I mean, look at the Seattle Seahawks. They are in the final tier, “Tier VII: Young guys who look in no way ready” with Paxton Lynch.
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