In a move that can’t be considered too much of a surprise, the San Francisco 49ers have named second-year quarterback Nick Mullens their starting quarterback for next Monday night’s game against the New York Giants.
Nick Mullens said Kyle Shanahan told him he is starting.
— Matt Maiocco (@MaioccoNBCS) November 6, 2018
An undrafted free agent out of Southern Mississippi, Mullens put up one of the best NFL debuts for a quarterback during the Super Bowl era in a 34-3 win over the hapless Oakland Raiders last week.
An unknown commodity heading into the game, Mullens went on to complete 16-of-22 passes for 262 yards with three touchdowns and zero interceptions in the blowout win. He also led a previously one-win 49ers team to north of 400 total yards without turning the ball over.
Mullens had received the start due to the injury fellow second-year quarterback C.J. Beathard suffered the previous week against the Arizona Cardinals.
In what has been a lost season for the injury-plagued 49ers, Mullens offers this franchise a glimmer of hope moving forward. He’ll now have an opportunity to continue this story Monday against a one-win Giants team that’s yielded an opposing 93.3 quarterback rating on the season.