John Lynch discusses C.J. Beathard and Jimmy Garoppolo

We're still not entirely sure who will be introduced as the San Francisco 49ers' starting quarterback to the Levi's Stadium crowd on Sunday. It could be rookie C.J. Beathard or veteran Jimmy Garoppolo. Oddly enough, Beathard now has twice as many career starts as Garoppolo, but that doesn't mean that latter won't take over as soon as he is deemed ready to do so.

Beathard has started the last four games for the 49ers and is coming off of his best performance yet. While leading the 49ers to their first victory of the season, a 31-21 win over the New York Giants, Beathard completed 19 of his 25 pass attempts for 288 yards, two passing touchdowns, a rushing touchdown, an interception, and a passer rating of 123.4.

Who will get the start on Sunday when the 49ers host the Seattle Seahawks? A week of practices leading up to the November 26 matchup will determine that.

"We're letting it play out," 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan said last week on KNBR. "And a lot went into how that game went. A lot is going to go into how our practice goes back here on Monday and throughout the week."

General manager John Lynch sat down with NBC Sports Bay Area early last week for a segment that aired on Saturday night. During the interview, Lynch discussed how pleased the 49ers have been with their rookie quarterback and how comfortable they are with the team's quarterback situation.

"[Beathard's] been impressive," Lynch told 49ers insider Matt Maiocco. "He really has been. In the Giants game, I think we saw that pay off with great statistics and things. Before that, we saw a guy fighting, and we saw a guy who was tough as nails.

"But he sees the game really well. It's certainly not too big. He's extremely poised. Sometimes he is so relaxed back there with chaos around, and I think that's one of the characteristics of great quarterback play.

"We're very encouraged with C.J., and we knew that we were very encouraged with C.J. when we went out and made the move for Jimmy Garoppolo. But we also – taking a page from the Patriots book – you can't be strong enough at that position. So, when we felt like we had an opportunity to acquire a guy who we thought had franchise-quarterback ability, we said, 'Hey, let's let this thing play out.'

"C.J.'s playing now and he certainly made the most of his opportunity against the Giants."


Lynch also stated that the 49ers don't necessarily need to see Garoppolo on the field this year before the front office can put a value on him. Garoppolo is in the final year of his contract and scheduled to become a free agent in 2018. The 49ers can retain him by either locking him up to a long-term deal or using the franchise tag on him, the latter of which would give them an extra season to evaluate the quarterback.

"We know what we like about Jimmy Garoppolo, and that's only been strengthened by the time that he's been here," Lynch said. "We're just going to let these things play out. Like I said, that's in Kyle's hands.

"People have had all these ideas about why we got Jimmy. We got Jimmy because we think he has big-time ability at the quarterback position and we believe so much, that to get where we want to get, you have to have a franchise quarterback. We think he's got that ability. Whether that happens, when that happens? We'll see, but we certainly like his future with the 49ers."