Rapoport: 49ers and Packers both thought C.J. Beathard would be ‘really good’

Quarterback C.J. Beathard finally made his NFL debut on Sunday – if you throw out the single snap during Week 4 against the Arizona Cardinals, which we will. The rookie entered the game against the Washington Redskins in the second quarter with the 49ers trailing 14-0 and helped engineer a comeback that would see San Francisco fall just short (again) of its first victory.

While Beathard wasn't the highest-graded quarterback available in April's draft in head coach Kyle Shanahan's eyes (that honor belongs to now-Chicago Bears quarterback Mitch Trubisky), he was the only one who Shanahan wanted, according to a report by Peter King of The MMQB. Shanahan saw Beathard, who was raw, as the only quarterback who might thrive within his offense because of his toughness. Needing time to learn, the head coach didn't feel Beathard was ready to enter an NFL game and lead the 49ers offense until Sunday.

"C.J.'s had a good week of practice," Shanahan said following Sunday's sixth-straight loss. "He's put two good weeks together and I had a feeling going in, if it went like that, had to make the move, give us a chance to win."

The benching of Brian Hoyer in favor of Beathard rejuvenated the 49ers offense and fan excitement. The Niner Faithful have been clamoring for a change at quarterback since -- well -- for some, since the announcement in March that Hoyer would be the starting quarterback.

Ian Rapoport of NFL Network joined KNBR on Monday morning and shared some quick thoughts on the 49ers' rookie quarterback and said that Shanahan and Lynch were not the only ones who valued Beathard so highly.

"I remember I tweeted about him early on in the draft process because no one cared about him," Rapoport said. "I thought he was going to go maybe fourth round or fifth round -- much higher than anyone anticipated. And there were literally about two teams that thought he was going to be a really good quarterback. The Niners were one and the Packers were another. They just really, really liked him and that's probably proving out to be a pretty good pick."

You can listen to the entire interview with Rapoport below.

In May, Peter Schrager of FOX Sports and "Good Morning Football" on NFL Network said the 49ers weren't the only team that was interested in selecting Beathard in the third round.

"I can tell you that [the 49ers] weren't the only team that looked at C.J. that high," Schrager said. "In fact, I had a team tell me if he's there in the third round, they'll take him. They ended up trading out of that pick or they didn't have a pick."

The Packers had a third-round selection, which came prior to the 49ers selecting Beathard. The only teams without a third-round pick were the Buffalo Bills and the Chicago Bears. Of course, Chicago had already selected Trubisky with the second-overall pick. Buffalo ended up selecting Nathan Peterman of Pittsburgh in the fifth round.

Beathard finished Sunday's game completing 19 of 36 pass attempts for 245 yards, a touchdown, and an interception. The 49ers will use this week to prepare for an October 22 matchup against the Dallas Cowboys at Levi's Stadium. As of Monday morning, the Cowboys are six-point favorites to win.