Beathard has long football pedigree
Draft pick is grandson of Super Bowl-winning general manager
Bobby Beathard was sitting on his Tennessee porch with a cold beer and a crossword puzzle when the phone rang, interrupting his retirement bliss.
What ensued was no ordinary interview about football with a Super Bowlwinning general manager. He holds the ultimate scouting report as a proud grandfather of C.J. Beathard, the surprise quarterback drafted last week by the 49ers.
“He’s a great kid. Always been a terrific kid,” Beathard, 80, began. “They live close by us, and C.J. is over here all the time.”
Memories soon washed over the former Washington and San Diego Chargers general manager, but not from his 38-year NFL career that bred four Super Bowl rings. He thought of his doting grandson and reminisced about family vacations on North Carolina’s Outer Banks.
“Every summer, we’d take him to the beach,” Beathard recalled, “and we’d play a game where a guy would take off running down the sand and into a wave, and (C.J.) would throw the ball right before the wave hit.”
Casey Jarrett Beathard came ashore with the 49ers late in the third round. He was the sixth quarterback drafted (No. 104 overall) in a rather unheralded class. His past two seasons as Iowa’s starter, however, convinced new 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan that he was the only quarterback worth taking.
”It’s pretty neat. He’s a special kid,” Bobby Beathard said.
The Beathard-family roots aren’t lost on Shanahan or general manager John Lynch. But, first, they fell for his leadership, toughness, pocket presence, quick thinking, love of football and winning ways in a pro-style offense.
“Football means a lot to this guy,” Shanahan said upon drafting him. “What’s his last name? Oh, it’s Beathard. Man, he’s been around it his whole life. That kind of makes sense. It starts to go in line with what you see on the tape.”
The Beathard family tree is made of pigskin branches.
Bobby went 25-5 as Cal Poly’s quarterback before morphing into an NFL personnel guru. Known best for his Washington and San Diego tenures from 1978-2000, he started with the Kansas City Chiefs, the American Football League, the Atlanta Falcons and the 1972 Miami Dolphins’ undefeated squad.
“He’s been through it a ton of years, and he has so much experience in it,” C.J. Beathard said on draft night. “He just said to stay positive, because he knows me and knows that wherever I ended up I was going to get a great opportunity.”
Casey Beathard, C.J.’s father, played wide receiver at Elon University before becoming an accomplished country songwriter for artists such as Kenny Chesney and Eric Church. Another of Bobby’s sons, Kurt Beathard, excelled as Towson University’s quarterback before coaching in college. Bobby’s brother, Pete, quarterbacked USC to the 1962 national title before a 10-year pro career.
OK, so what is Bobby Beathard’s GM-type scouting report on his grandson? Well, in between shouting hello to neighbors who drove by his porch in Franklin, Tennessee, he offered this summary:
“He’s big. Strong. Dedicated. Smart. And he’s just a neat kid. He can throw all the passes and is a great team guy. He can get along with everybody.”
That translates into leadership, something Shanahan and the 49ers checked on with contacts at Iowa. No one might vouch for Beathard more than tight end George Kittle, a former roommate and a fifth-round draft pick by the 49ers.
“You know, I was blessed to be with C.J. since freshman year, and he’s just a guy that, he loves football more than anything, other than maybe his daughter,” Kittle said.
Beathard and his girlfriend, Madelyn Chupka, welcomed baby Lyla on Dec. 19. Two weeks later, he played in the Outback Bowl against Florida, a 303 loss marred early by a right-hamstring injury.
A year earlier, Beathard led Iowa to a 12-0 regular season — “He played unbelievable,” Shanahan said — before losing to Michigan State in the Big Ten championship game and Stanford in the Rose Bowl. (Side note: Solomon Thomas, the 49ers’ top draft pick, sacked Beathard in the Cardinal’s 45-16 rout.)
“My favorite thing about C.J. is just how much his love and emotion brings everyone else around,” Kittle added. “He’s one of the best leaders I’ve ever been around. He was a great leader just from the start.”
That did not start at Iowa, where he opted to go instead of Ole Miss after starring at Battle Ground Academy in Nashville.
“He did that in Pop Warner football,” Bobby Beathard said. “He was always the leader of the team, and he could always throw the ball.”
Shanahan intensely studied Iowa’s game film and didn’t feel the need to personally work out Beathard. That chore fell on quarterbacks coach Rich Scangarello.
“I consider him a natural thrower,” Shanahan said Thursday on KNBR-680. “He was born to throw, which gives him an advantage.
“But the main reason you like him is I’ve never seen a guy hang in the pocket and play as tough as he does,” Shanahan added. “Whether protection is good or not, whether people are getting open or not, he hangs in there all day, takes hits to his face and keeps his eyes downfield. He can hang in there and keep that poise.”