JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Jaguars quarterback room is getting crowded.
The team signed C.J. Beathard on Wednesday afternoon, adding a potential backup quarterback to the mix and signaling that the end is likely near for at least one of team’s last two quarterback draft picks.
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Beathard spent all four seasons with San Francisco after being taken in the third round of the 2017 draft. He has passed for 3,469 yards and 18 touchdowns in his career. Beathard played in six games and started two of them last season.
His grandfather, Bobby Beathard, was an NFL veteran and inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2018. The bulk of his time in the NFL came as the general manager of Washington and San Diego.
According to the NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, Beathard’s deal with the Jaguars is $5 million, plus incentives, for two years.
So, what does that mean for the Jaguars quarterback room?
Beathard joins Gardner Minshew II and Jake Luton as Jacksonville’s quarterbacks. The Jaguars are universally expected to draft Clemson product Trevor Lawrence with the No. 1 overall pick in next month’s draft.
Coach Urban Meyer said that the Jaguars weren’t in the market to trade Minshew when asked about it last week. But the addition of a fifth-year player in Beathard is a clear signal that changes are coming in the quarterback room at some point. Minshew has won seven games as a starting quarterback in the NFL and is entering his third year in the league.
Luton, a sixth-round pick last year, passed for 624 yards, two TDs and six interceptions in three starts in 2020.