Garoppolo is back; Beathard is his No. 2
Jimmy Garoppolo will be back on the field Sunday.
And he will be backed up by a different quarterback.
Head coach Kyle Shanahan said Garoppolo will return from a high ankle sprain that sidelined him for two games when the 49ers host the Dolphins. The secondstringer will be C. J. Beathard, who replaced Nick Mullens near the end of his threeturnover performance in Sunday’s loss to the Eagles. Mullens likely will be inactive.
As for Garoppolo, he has recovered to the point that he wasn’t listed on the pregame injury report. He was a full participant in Friday’s practice after he was limited the previous two days.
“He did a good job and each day got better,” Shanahan said. “He never felt too sore the next day.”
Garoppolo had not previously dealt with a high ankle sprain. He acknowledged it was different from ankle issues he has played through in the past.
“I kept telling myself, ‘ Hey, I can play this week. I’ll be all right,’ ” Garoppolo said. “It took a little time.”
Beathard will serve as Garoppolo’s backup for the first time since early in the 2018 season. Mullens took
Beathard’s starting spot that season when Garoppolo was out with a torn ACL and had remained ahead of Beathard on the depth chart.
Beathard completed 14 of 19 passes for 138 yards after replacing Mullens against Philadelphia.
“Nick just had a rough game,” Shanahan said. “I think he played better than it looked. It’s never as bad as it seems. But that’s kind of the life of a backup. C. J., I thought, did some really good things for us.”
Mostert has chance: Raheem Mostert
Running
back ( knee) is questionable to play Sunday after missing the past two games. Shanahan recently said Mostert wasn’t likely to return until next week, but Shanahan indicated Mostert could play if his knee responds well to Friday’s workload. Mostert was limited in practice this week.
“He got a little bit more work today,” Shanahan said. “He was able to get through it. We didn’t put him through everything. We really want to see how that responds tomorrow and how he feels on Sunday.”
Other injury news: Cornerbacks Emmanuel Moseley ( concussion) and Dontae Johnson ( groin) won’t play Sunday. Corner back Ahk el lo Witherspoon( hamstring) and wide receiver Deebo Samuel ( illness) are questionable. Linebacker Dre Greenlaw, who has missed the past two games with a quadriceps injury, was not listed on the injury report.