49ers Analysis: How rookie C.J. Beathard showed promise of better days ahead

SANTA CLARA — C.J. Beathard majored in something called Leisure Studies while at Iowa, which sounds about right.

He sure made things look easy Saturday night.

After the 49ers first-team offense gasped, wheezed and coughed up three first-half turnovers against the Denver Broncos, en route to a 33-14 defeat at Levi’s Stadium, the rookie quarterback waltzed in and showed what Kyle Shanahan’s offense is supposed to look like.

On the first drive of the second half, Beathard needed just two passes — a 39-yarder to Aldrick Robinson and a 29-yarder to tight end George Kittle — to cap a breezy three-play touchdown drive. Both passes came on exquisitely executed play-action fakes. Both throws hit the receiver in stride with room to run.

The entirety of drive took 70 seconds. Somewhere out there, a Leisure Studies professor was smiling.

“He’s a guy that just comes in and wins ballgames,” said Kittle, who played with Beathard for several seasons in Iowa.

To be clear, there is no quarterback controversy here. Brian Hoyer is The Man for the 49ers — in ink and underlined twice.

But Beathard, in a heartbeat, showed why he needed just one game to move up to No. 2 on the 49ers preseason depth chart. The third-round pick leapfrogged over Matt Barkley after going 7 for 11 with two touchdowns in the preseason opener against Kansas City last week.

His final numbers against the Broncos confirmed Shanahan’s decision: 7 for 12 for 110 yards, for a 116.7 passer rating with no interceptions — and no sweat.

“He’s the most competitive person I’ve ever met in my entire life,” Kittle said. “And that’s about anything. He will get extremely upset over a Ping-Pong game. Playing video games. He gets upset about everything.”

Beathard (pronounced BETH-urd) might owe his preternatural poise to his bloodlines. He is the grandson of Bobby Beathard, who spent 38 years working in the NFL, including distinguished stints as the general manager for Washington (1978-88) and San Diego (1989-2000).

He is also the son of a country music songwriter. Casey Beathard has penned songs for artists such as Billy Ray Cyrus and Kenny Chesney. For Chesney, he once co-wrote a song called “I Will Stand” (which, for the record, had nothing to do with Colin Kaepernick.) Like our San Francisco 49ers Facebook page for more 49ers news, commentary and conversation.

Maybe there could be a new country song called “Tough as S***” — which is how Shanahan has described C.J. Beathard a few times since draft day. The coach loves how the 6-foot-2, 215-pound passer bounces up like rubber ball even after the hardest of hits.

That’s a trait Kittle saw when they were Hawkeyes teammates.

“Oh, I mean, he carried us our junior year at Iowa,” the tight end said. “In our 12-2 season, he played most of that season banged up. He was jumping over guys, taking big hits.

“And he got up every single time. He never came out of a game. He will never quit on you. No matter what the score is, no matter how he feels. That’s a great quality.”

For a few minutes Saturday night, the duo turned this patch of Silicon Valley into an Iowa cornfield. On a first-and-10 from the Denver 29, the quarterback faked a handoff to running back Kapri Bibbs and rolled left.

He found Kittle in the flat, hit him with a short pass that allowed the tight end to build up a 255-pound head of steam along the left sideline. Two Broncos defenders had an angle, both wound up as road kill.

“He does a great job after the catch of making guys miss,” Beathard said. “He ‘trucked’ a guy — he ran a guy over to get into the end zone.”

It was a bit downhill after that for Beathard. (And not just because he slipped on his backside as he raced to the end zone to congratulate Kittle.) For complete 49ers coverage follow us on Flipboard.

The rookie quarterback missed a few throws, leaving Shanahan to temper the hype machine after the game. “He did a solid job,” the coach said, evenly. “There were a couple of third downs I think he missed, but it was tough to get people in rhythm. Under the circumstances, he did solid.”

On this night, solid was good enough to rise above the fray. Hoyer’s quarterback rating was 58.5. Barkley was limited to 1 of 2 attempts for 10 yards.

And Beathhard? He’s showing why he had people in the corn fields smiling from ear to ear.

“This is the NFL. It has been my dream since I was a kid. Just stepping out there on my first drive last week was one of those moments that seemed cool and surreal,” Beathard said. “This my job now. You just have to act like you’ve been there before.”

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