San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan expects quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo to start throwing the football when the team gathers for organized team activities during the upcoming offseason. That will be around May or June.

Until then, Nick Mullens will have two games to continue proving that he, not last year's third-round draft pick, C.J. Beathard, deserves to be Garoppolo's backup heading into 2019.


Shanahan has no plans to make another change at quarterback. He was asked by a reporter on Monday if there was a chance Beathard might receive another look during the 49ers' final two games of the season.

"Nick deserves to be in," Shanahan responded. "He's played very good and he's gotten better as he's gone. I thought yesterday was probably Nick's best game, especially the way he finished it in that fourth quarter. He didn't complete a lot of balls, but just him getting rid of the ball on some really tough protection situations."

Mullens went 20-of-29 for 275 yards with a touchdown and a passer rating of 110.6 while guiding the 49ers to their fourth win of the season. It was his highest passer rating since his NFL debut against the Oakland Raiders during Week 9 (151.9). Mullens also received his highest Pro Football Focus passing grade (80.5) of the season.

"He's done too good of a job. We'd love to get C.J. more playing time but Nick's earned it, and I'm not taking him out."

Mullens, who is 3-3 as a starter, has passed for 1,754 yards with 10 touchdowns, six interceptions, and a passer rating of 96.0 in six starts.


As for Garoppolo and what to expect out of the $137.5 million quarterback when he gets some work during OTAs...

"Hopefully we can get him in 7-on-7s, and he can be throwing the ball," Shanahan said. "We'll see if it works out that way."

Basically, nothing too intense for Garoppolo, who suffered a torn ACL in September.

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