Training Camp Battle - QB #2

[y2lamanaki]

It did not seem like that this would become a potential battle this year, but it seems that has become the case:

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After starting camp with the second team, Barkley received most of reps in recent practices with the third string. Beathard was with the second-team offense, including the move-the-ball period, Thursday and Friday. The competition will crystalize some when the preseason begins Aug. 11 in Kansas City.

http://ninerswire.usatoday.com/2017/08/04/49ers-training-camp-stock-watch-day-7/3/

Matt Barkley: 

Barkley was once considered a top QB prospect that would compete with Andrew Luck to be the first QB taken in 2012, but things seemed to go south from there. Barkley fell to the 4th round, and since then he has been known for making far too many mistakes. As a rookie, he was able to get into a few games for the Eagles but threw an INT at a rate of every 12 passes. Last year he got a lot of opportunities with the Bears, and as the season progressed he grew more and more accurate. However, he still frequently threw a lot of picks and he eventually fell out of favor in Chicago. Now as a free agent consolation prize for losing out on Matt Schaub, Barkley was supposed to have a solid hold on that backup job this season. It appears that may no longer be the case. 

 

C.J. Beathard: 

One of the surprise moves of the NFL draft came when the 49ers traded up into the back end of the third round to select Beathard, a QB nobody expected to go quite that early. Shanahan clearly has incredible offensive vision, and it is clear he saw something in Beathard that made him a top 100 prospect on the board. With that said, the expectations for Beathard were incredibly low and he was expected to be the #3 QB and inactive on game days. However, he has had a few solid practices in a row, and it seems his handle on things this early on has put him unexpectedly in the competition to be Hoyer's backup. Given that Barkley is a known quantity, this would be good news if Beathard did play well enough to already win the backup job. 

The preseason will be huge for this one. Who do you have?

[y2lamanaki]

 

[GW21]

I voted Beathard with Barkley cut. I think it's possible we keep three QBs with Hoyer's injury history, but at the same time I think we just keep Mullens on the PS for insurance or maybe sign someone else off of waivers/stash whomever that is to the PS. I think Barkley has kind of made it clear what he is and if so there is no reason to keep him around.

[GW21]

I remember before the draft they asked writers who they thought could be this years Dak, and Cosell picked Beathard. It's possible Shanahan and other football guys had Beathard rated much higher than the 'media' guys.

[Fureys49ers]

Voted Beathard and keep Barkley but he remains inactive ok gamedays as long as there are no injuries. If Hoyer were to go down with an injury again I think the we would play Beathard the remainder of the season just to see what we have, plus I'm not sure Barkley playing over Beathard would be any kind of noticeable improvement.

[Forge]

7 minutes ago, Fureys49ers said:

Voted Beathard and keep Barkley but he remains inactive ok gamedays as long as there are no injuries. If Hoyer were to go down with an injury again I think the we would play Beathard the remainder of the season just to see what we have, plus I'm not sure Barkley playing over Beathard would be any kind of noticeable improvement.

Im not a fan of beat hard or Barkley, but this is my stance. I'd rather take beathard out on a tesr drive than Barkley. There's an unknown with the former, and every bit of game action helps him to prove me wrong

[J-ALL-DAY]

Is it me or does it seem like the only QB constantly throwing picks in practice is Barkley? Dude is not good at all and I'm against keeping three QBs on the 53 man roster. Really hoping for Beathard to win the back up spot that leads to Barkley getting released. 

[48 1/2ers]

25 minutes ago, J-ALL-DAY said:

Is it me or does it seem like the only QB constantly throwing picks in practice is Barkley? Dude is not good at all and I'm against keeping three QBs on the 53 man roster. Really hoping for Beathard to win the back up spot that leads to Barkley getting released. 

Completely agree, I liked the Barkley signing but if Beathard is better its pointless to keep him. I heard someone talking about how simply relaying the plays is hard for Barkley without a wristband. Its the NFL bro and a rookie has a better grasp of controlling an NFL huddle and running the offense then you.  2 QB's allows us to keep an extra WR, LB, or DL. I'd take a guy like Blair and Armstrong over a 3rd string QB when we know theres a good chance we get Cousins next year. 

[y2lamanaki]

I agree with both of you guys - @J-ALL-DAY and @48 1/2ers. I was okay with seeing what Barkley had to offer given that we needed to add 2 FA QBs with none on the roster in March, but all of the picks are simply what he's known for doing. He makes too many bad decisions and we can sign just about anyone to be an emergency vet QB if need be. 

[J-ALL-DAY]

It's just amazing to how incompetent QBs like Barkley end up lasting in the league for 10 years. Like what do guys like him provide? It sure isn't for his brain as he throws some of the worse INTs and his decision making is terrible. 

[y2lamanaki]

3 minutes ago, J-ALL-DAY said:

It's just amazing to how incompetent QBs like Barkley end up lasting in the league for 10 years. Like what do guys like him provide? It sure isn't for his brain as he throws some of the worse INTs and his decision making is terrible. 

To be honest, I think Barkley was probably on his last team other than maybe being an emergency pickup at some point. Guys like him don't tend to last. Typically it's guys with a lot of starting experience and a little more accuracy that last. I mean - even guys like Josh McCown and Blaine Gabbert have thrown more TDs than INTs to go along with years of starting in the league. 

[J-ALL-DAY]

I just looked up Barkley's stats from last year and he threw 14 INTs in six starts and seven total games. Holy crap, even worse TD/INT ratio than I thought (8:14). If he gets released, he shouldn't get another shot. He has shown absolutely nothing.....Ironically, he lit us up last year which shows how terrible our defense was.

[Forge]

57 minutes ago, J-ALL-DAY said:

I just looked up Barkley's stats from last year and he threw 14 INTs in six starts and seven total games. Holy crap, even worse TD/INT ratio than I thought (8:14). If he gets released, he shouldn't get another shot. He has shown absolutely nothing.....Ironically, he lit us up last year which shows how terrible our defense was.

I believe he also had 4 fumbles lol

[J-ALL-DAY]

Doesn't have any amazing physical tools. Is a terrible decision maker and can't operate without a wristband. Aside from that, he's great! Lol

[Forge]

 

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C.J. Beathard was on the money throughout practice. His first long completion went down the middle of the field to DeAndre Carter. He then threw an absolutely perfect deep ball to Victor Bolden Jr., but Bolden couldn't hang on. Bolden later atoned for his mistake by making an adjustment to an underthrown deep ball.

From Wed practice. I really hope that Shanny and company have the guts to make Beathard the primary backup and give him a ton of reps during the preseason. I didn't like Beathard coming out, and I am not a believer, but I want to give the guy the best possible chance to prove me wrong, and he already appears to be a superior option to Barkley.