Mullens will compete with C.J. Beathard for the No. 2 quarterback job in San Francisco, Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports Bay Area reports. "We'll rotate C.J. [Beathard] and Nick [Mullens] with the twos," coach Kyle Shanahan said Tuesday. "[We'll] flip a coin the first day."
Shanahan says the competition will start on even ground, but it's hard to see how Mullens wouldn't have the advantage after he completed 64.2 percent of his passes for 8.3 yards per attempt while going 3-5 as the starter in 2018. He did toss 10 picks on 274 attempts (3.6 percent), but Beathard was actually worse in that regard (4.1 percent) and also took one more sack despite throwing 105 fewer passes. The 49ers may try to trade one of their backup quarterbacks if Jimmy Garoppolo (knee) continues to make good progress in his recovery from an ACL tear.