#49ers Brian Hoyer on getting benched: pic.twitter.com/dl99SL4XrJ
— Cam Inman (@CamInman) October 15, 2017
Brian Hoyer knew a change was coming.
After losing the first five games of his tenure as the 49ers’ starting quarterback, and beginning Sunday’s contest against the Redskins by completing just four of his first 11 attempts, Hoyer accepted head coach Kyle Shanahan’s decision to bench him.
In came rookie C.J. Beathard, and out went Hoyer, whose days as the 49ers’ signal-caller are officially numbered.
“When you’re 0-5 and you start off really poorly, you know, I understand what Kyle did,” Hoyer told reporters after the game. “Try to change things up and I thought C.J. came in and gave those guys some life a little bit. But it is what it is, it’s part of the job and unfortunately you don’t play as well as you’d like, the offense doesn’t play as well as you’d like, and he was forced to make that decision.”
Beathard is a third round draft pick of San Francisco’s who was selected by Shanahan and general manager John Lynch much earlier than many analysts expected him to be drafted. On Sunday, Beathard made Shanahan and Lynch look good, completing 19-of-36 pass attempts for 245 yards in his NFL debut.
After the game, Hoyer told reporters that though he was disappointed, he took his benching as an opportunity to help Beathard ease his way into action.
“The thing for me is I have the utmost respect for Kyle and I just knew nothing I was going to say was going to change his mind,” Hoyer said. “So I just tried to go on and be a good teammate, tried to help C.J. as much as I can and I was happy for him, he played well.”
Hoyer said that despite his benching, he plans on continuing to help Beathard adjust to life as an NFL starter. After the game, Shanahan told reporters that Beathard would continue on as the team’s starter, and Hoyer said that he’ll continue to prepare himself to play in the event that he finds himself back on the field in the near future.
“Like I said, I’ve been in this situation before and you know, C.J. is a great kid and I’ll be there every day trying to help him as much as I can,” Hoyer said. “Also, the other thing, you never know what’s going to happen. Injuries, things like that, obviously you would never wish that upon people but that’s what happened to me in Houston and I was right back in there a few weeks later. It’s not easy, but you’ve always got to do your job. Being a competitor, you always want to finish what you started, but I’ve got to come in there every day and be a professional.”