NFL Player News

The 49ers named C.J. Beathard (thumb) their starting quarterback over Garoppolo for Sunday's game against the Seahawks, Eric Branch of the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

With the 49ers returning from a bye, it seemed Week 12 was the most likely date for Garoppolo's first start with his new team. Beathard threw a hitch in that timeline, however, when he amassed 288 passing yards and accounted for three touchdowns in a 31-21 win over the Giants in Week 10. It would still be surprising if the 49ers don't start Garoppolo at least once or twice before the end of the season, but it apparently won't happen this Sunday.

Beathard (thumb) will start Sunday's game against the Seahawks, Eric Branch of the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

San Francisco general manager John Lynch spoke in support Beathard on Tuesday, and head coach Kyle Shanahan confirmed Wednesday that the rookie will receive at least one more start. Beathard will face a Seahawks defense that actually looks a bit vulnerable sans Richard Sherman (Achilles) and Kam Chancellor (neck). Even so, the 49ers are still expected to take a look at Jimmy Garoppolo for at least one or two games before the end of the season.

Siemian will serve as the top backup to Paxton Lynch for Sunday's game against the Raiders, Mike Klis of 9 News Denver reports.

With the playoffs seemingly out of reach, the Broncos are expected to have Lynch, a 2016 first-round pick, finish out the season as the starter in order to gauge if he's a long-term solution at quarterback. That likely means that Siemian, who started the Broncos' first seven games of the season, probably won't get another look in the No. 1 role if Lynch's health prevails, but he'll at least move ahead of Brock Osweiler on the depth chart. As the Broncos' new No. 3 quarterback, Osweiler will likely be inactive after he failed to spark the team's dormant offense in his three starts, completing only 53.1 percent of his passes while tossing four interceptions against three touchdowns.

Coach Chuck Pagano indicated Wednesday that Brissett is in the non-contact portion of the NFL's concussion protocol, Kevin Bowen of 1070 The Fan Indianapolis reports.

The report also notes that Brissett is in line to have some controlled contact after Thursday's practice. Per Zak Keefer of The Indianapolis Star, Brissett will be evaluated by an independent neurologist after he works out Thursday, and the expectation is that the quarterback will receive medical clearance by Friday. Assuming that's the case, Brissett will be on track to start Sunday's game against the Titans.

The Broncos officially named Lynch their starting quarterback for Sunday's game against the Raiders, Andrew Mason of the Broncos' official site reports.

Multiple reports confirmed Tuesday that Lynch would replace Osweiler atop the depth chart, so head coach Vance Joseph's announcement Wednesday was merely a formality. Though accuracy concerns in addition to a lack of recent game experience make Lynch a low-end fantasy quarterback in Week 12, he at least gets a soft landing spot against an Oakland defense that has yet to record an interception this season and is tied for last in the NFL in sacks (14).

Peterman will return to a backup role Sunday against the Chiefs after Bills head coach Sean McDermott named Tyrod Taylor the team's starting quarterback for the contest.

The unproven Peterman's appointment to the starting role ahead of the Week 11 game against the Chargers was always a bit of a head scratcher with the Bills in the thick of the wild-card race, and the rookie only made the decision look more foolish by tossing five interceptions on only 14 pass attempts in the first half before being benched. Though the Bills lost by 30 points, the offense ran more smoothly with Taylor under center in the second half, so the veteran will reclaim his perch atop the depth chart for now. It's expected that the more experienced Taylor will remain the starter so long as the team is in playoff contention, but if things head further south for the Bills, Peterman could get another look late in the season.

Bills head coach Sean McDermott named Taylor the team's starting quarterback for Sunday's game against the Chiefs.

Though Taylor had turned in his worst outing of the season in a blowout loss to New Orleans in Week 10, it was still surprising when McDermott elected to bench the veteran last week in favor of untested rookie Nathan Peterman for a road matchup with the Chargers. The decision quickly proved to be ill advised, as Peterman threw five first-half interceptions before being replaced by Taylor, who completed 15 of 25 passes for 158 yards and a touchdown in relief. While Taylor will get the chance to get the 5-5 Bills back into the win column Sunday, McDermott said that the team will continue to "evaluate every position every week," according to Chris Brown of the Bills' official site, suggesting that Taylor isn't necessarily a lock to remain the starter the rest of the way.

Johnson was released by the Texans on Tuesday, Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle reports.

Johnson was signed by Houston two weeks ago to operate as a depth quarterback after Deshaun Watson (knee) was placed on injured reserve. He never saw any snaps in Houston with T.J. Yates operating as the top backup to new starter Tom Savage.

The 49ers haven't decided on a starting quarterback for Sunday's game against the Seahawks, but general manager John Lynch seemingly vouched his support for Beathard (thumb) on Tuesday, Cam Inman of The San Jose Mercury News reports. "You watch the way C.J. Beathard played the other day, he looked like he could be the guy. That's a good issue," Lynch added.

Lynch also spoke well of Beathard's challenger for the starting role, Jimmy Garoppolo, stating that the newly acquired quarterback is "going to be our guy" rather than an asset the team would look to trade away in the offseason. With that in mind, it still seems likely that Garoppolo will unseat Beathard before the season is out, but Lynch said that he would leave the Week 12 starting decision up to head coach Kyle Shanahan, who is expected to reveal his choice Wednesday. Beathard's numbers while logging extended snaps over the last five games are unremarkable -- he's completed 54.3 percent of his passes for 1,229 yards, four touchdowns and five interceptions while adding 115 yards and three scores on the ground -- but he saved his best performance for a Week 9 win over the Giants (19-for-25 for 288 yards and two touchdowns with one rushing touchdown). That may be enough for Beathard to garner one more start over Garoppolo coming out of the 49ers' bye week.

Confirming an earlier report, Lynch will start Sunday's game against the Raiders, Nicki Jhabvala of The Denver Post reports.

The Broncos decided to make some wholesale changes on offense following their sixth consecutive loss in Week 11 to the Bengals, firing offensive coordinator Mike McCoy on Monday and elevating Bill Musgrave to interim duties and swapping out Brock Osweiler for Lynch at quarterback. Lynch was inactive for the Broncos' first 10 games while recovering from a sprained right shoulder, but he was named the backup over Trevor Siemian for the matchup with Cincinnati and is now healthy enough to unseat Osweiler, who like Siemian before him, proved inefficient and turnover prone as the starter. Lynch displayed similar efficiency issues while appearing in three games as a rookie, but given that the Broncos invested a first-round pick in him, the team is expected to stick with him as the starter over the final six games of the campaign to see if he's a long-term solution at the position. While Lynch's results could be erratic, the Broncos' decision to commit to him makes him worth owning in all settings that start two quarterbacks.