Nick Mullens spent all of last season as Jimmy Garoppolo's backup. He started this season in that same role. When a high-ankle sprain sidelined Garoppolo in Week 2, Mullens replaced him and then started the next two games. However, a poor performance in that second start led to Mullens being benched late in the game and replaced by C.J. Beathard.
Then there was a change to the quarterback depth chart. Beathard, not Mullens, entered this past weekend's game against the Miami Dolphins as Garoppolo's backup. He was needed, too, because Garoppolo was clearly still hindered by the injury and benched at halftime.
Garoppolo's status for Sunday night's game against the Los Angeles Rams is not yet known. Head coach Kyle Shanahan will use this week's practices to determine whether his franchise quarterback can play.
"If he has a good week of practice, and it looks like he gives us the best chance to win, then I won't hesitate," Shanahan said. "If it looks like it hurts in the game, and it's prohibiting him, then we'll do what we did again."
Should Garoppolo play, who will be his backup? That remains undecided.
"We'll see out there in the week," Shanahan explained. "I'm going to have both of those guys go a little bit. I haven't fully decided that. They've both gotten about equal reps here. I know Nick got it a ton more the last two weeks. C.J. got a lot more last week. But I haven't decided on that yet. It kind of depends on how Jimmy goes, and if he's struggling, I'll make a decision with both of them getting more reps."