San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan has a lot of confidence in quarterback Nick Mullens, which is evident from watching the offense on Sundays. Shanahan doesn't appear to be holding anything back just because Mullens, who was still on the practice squad two months ago and didn't have a single game of NFL experience at the time, is under center.
Shanahan joined KNBR on Thursday and discussed the confidence he has in his second-year quarterback.
"I get more confidence with Nick each week just by the way he's played," Shanahan said on the "Tolbert & Lund" show.
There was a lot of speculation that the 49ers would go out and try to acquire a bigger-name quarterback when Jimmy Garoppolo suffered a torn ACL in September. Some around the NFL were reportedly hoping San Francisco would trade for Nick Foles. Shanahan found those reports "comical."
Two days after Garoppolo's injury, the 49ers worked out seven quarterbacks, including Landry Jones and EJ Manuel, but opted to promote Mullens to the active roster.
"We were confident enough in Nick to keep him on our practice squad," Shanahan continued. "Then when Jimmy got hurt, we were confident enough to activate him and have him as a backup, and not go out and get someone that we're not familiar with."
Mullens made his NFL debut during a Week 9 matchup against the Oakland Raiders after then-starter C.J. Beathard suffered a hand injury. And what a debut it was. Mullens completed 16-of-22 passes for 262 yards with three touchdowns and a passer rating of 151.9 in the dominating 34-3 victory.
Mullens now has six NFL starts under his belt. He is 3-3 as a starter and has passed for 1,754 yards with 10 touchdowns, six interceptions, and a passer rating of 96.0.
"He hasn't just been lucky," Shanahan added. "He's played some really good football. He's been very consistent. He's played enough to show that he's consistent, and what's been fun with Nick is you see that the more he plays, the better he gets. That makes sense because he is extremely smart. He's very well prepared.
"The game is not too big for him. He's not scared of the moment and not scared of the physicality in the pocket and everything. With that, he's just getting live reps. A guy who is made of the right stuff, with the more live reps you get, the better you get."
Garoppolo will undoubtedly head into training camp next year as the 49ers starter, which means there will be an offseason battle for the backup quarterback job. Mullens has two more games to increase his head start over Beathard in that competition.
You can listen to the entire interview with Shanahan below.
