Kyle Shanahan used to coach Kirk Cousins and the 49ers currently have Brian Hoyer at the top of the quarterback depth chart, so it hasn’t been hard to find people musing about the possibility of the 49ers making a play for Cousins next offseason.
There’s still plenty to play out with the Redskins before Cousins would hit the open market and the 49ers may have picked a quarterback in the third round that could change the scenario. The team moved up five spots in a trade to select C.J. Beathard out of Iowa in a move that Peter King of TheMMQB.com chronicles in this week’s Monday Morning Quarterback column.
King was in the team’s draft room when team owner Jed York said they’d “sleep a little better” on Friday night knowing they got Beathard rather than waiting until the fourth round and when Shanahan compared Beathard to his former pupil in Washington.
“He processes the game so well,” Shanahan said. “Tough as s--t. Got a chance. He reminds me a lot of Kirk Cousins.”
King reports Beathard was the only quarterback Shanahan wanted in this year’s draft, so giving up a seventh-round pick to ensure they got him was probably a pretty easy decision to make. Picking him doesn’t mean they won’t be looking for a quarterback again next year, of course, but it does suggest that the team is open to several approaches to filling the position for the long term.