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The original was posted on /r/nfl by /u/GoodSamaritan_ on 2024-02-01 16:42:05.
Going into the 2017 draft the Niners were very high up on Beathard and were watching a lot of his film. So much so that according to GM John Lynch they couldn’t help but notice his tight end who wasn’t even on their radar and who they didn’t know of previously:
“I would say he and we were probably the benefactor from us putting a lot of time in on C.J. Beathard early and then finding out who’s this number 46.” Lynch said. “They don’t throw it much but this guy can run and he can block and football is really important to him. He’s got some funky movements to him that maybe at first you don’t see a crazy athlete, but the more you watch him, he’s always pulling away from people. And there’s a toughness to his play. There’s a will that speaks through the film.”
In that 2017 draft the Niners would use their 3rd round pick (#104) on Beathard and their 5th round pick (#146) on Kittle.
After 2020 Beathard left in free agency for Jacksonville so the Niners were handed a 7th round compensatory pick. We all know who they used that very last pick of the draft on.
Beathard turned out to be nothing more than a back up QB but as a Niner fan I can’t thank him enough for our success. It’s impossible to overstate the role he played–unwitting as it may be–in shaping our future.