
There wasn’t supposed to be a battle for the 49ers’ No. 2 quarterback spot this offseason. But with training camp in full blaze and San Francisco’s preseason opener just around the corner, it’s a competition that is warranting more and more attention.
49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan went on the radio Thursday morning and said third round pick C.J. Beathard has done well enough during the offseason program to open up a two-way competition with free agent acquisition Matt Barkley.
“We felt C.J. coming into training camp earned the right to compete for the No. 2 spot,” he said. “That’s how we’ve been doing it so far and we’ve been rotating them throughout practice and those guys have been battling pretty hard.”
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The new head coach said Barkley got a lot of the No. 2 snaps during OTAs, but Beathard was impressive enough with his reps to force Shanahan into a deep evaluation and study of those practices.
“I’m as competitive as they come, whether it’s playing ping-pong in the locker room or whatever,” Beathard told the news media over the weekend.
Beathard came to the 49ers as a late-third-round draft pick. The 49ers traded up from the top of the fourth round to secure Beathard, who many believed would be a late-round selection.
“I love that they had the faith in me and saw in me what I see in myself. I want to prove this coaching staff right, that they made the right decision,” Beathard said.
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