The 49ers’ quarterback depth was on full display last season. That explains at least part of the reason they finished the year with four wins. Jimmy Garoppolo, CJ Beathard and Nick Mullens all got starts for San Francisco in 2018 with varying degrees of success. Depth at quarterback is more rare than having a quality starter in the NFL. 49ers general manager John Lynch said Thursday the team isn’t eager to give that up in a trade, but the possibility isn’t off the table.
“Well, I think we never close the door on anything,” Lynch told reporters from the NFL combine in Indianapolis. “But, we really like the three quarterbacks that we have. It is an extremely important position in this league and we like each and every one of those guys for what they bring to the table, both in their talent and who they are as people. We’re big believers in all of them.”
The 49ers selected Beathard with a third-round pick in the 2017 draft, then acquired Garoppolo for a 2018 second-round pick in a trade with the Patriots later that year. They made Garoppolo the highest-paid quarterback in the league that offseason after only five starts.
Mullens was added as an undrafted free agent in 2017, but wasn’t elevated to the active roster until Garoppolo went down with an ACL tear in Week 3.
Garoppolo is a franchise quarterback. Beathard has proven to be a capable backup. Mullens showed this season that he’s a valuable backup and potential starter.
Normally having a deep position group would be considered a luxury, but San Francisco runs into numbers issues on their roster when they try to keep three signal callers on their roster.
“Traditionally, we’ve been of the believe that you keep two because it allows you to do things with your roster,” Lynch said. “But, never close the door on keeping three, either. I think they’re all talented players who like I said are good people, are good leaders and we’re big fans of all of them.”
It’s not inconceivable that San Francisco rosters three quarterbacks with one inactive on game days. However, the 49ers will certainly listen if a trade offer for either one of Beathard or Mullens materializes.
Beathard hasn’t had a ton of success with just one win in 10 starts, but he’s dealt mostly with a rebuilding 49ers offense. He made five starts in each of his two NFL seasons, and improved in 2018 with a 60.4 percent completion rate, eight touchdowns and seven interceptions. His 81.8 passer rating was more than 12 points higher than the number he posted his rookie season.
Mullens saw more success despite a limited skill set. He posted a 64.2 percent completion rate with 13 touchdowns and 10 interceptions in eight starts. He averaged nearly 285 yards per game with a 90.8 quarterback rating.
It stands to reason new Broncos offensive coordinator and former 49ers’ quarterbacks coach Rich Scangarello may covet one of the two signal callers to serve as a backup to Joe Flacco in Denver.
On the other hand, teams may prefer to hold onto their draft picks instead of prioritizing the backup quarterback spot. Either way the 49ers are in a good position. They either have two capable backups, or they acquire a draft pick to trade one of them. Both options will be on the table for Lynch and the 49ers.
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