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What to Expect from the 49ers Offense with Nick Mullens at Quarterback

Mullens will start his first game since 2018.
Grant Cohn|
What to Expect from the 49ers Offense with Nick Mullens at Quarterback
What to Expect from the 49ers Offense with Nick Mullens at Quarterback

The 49ers won’t have Jimmy Garoppolo for their upcoming must-win game against the New York Giants.

49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan confirmed Friday morning on KNBR in San Francisco that Garoppolo will miss Sunday’s game with a high-ankle sprain and Nick Mullens will be the starting quarterback.

Garoppolo suffered the injury early in the first quarter against the Jets and finished the first half, but left the game at halftime. On Wednesday this week, Shanahan said he was hopeful Garoppolo might be healthy enough to play against the Giants. But Garoppolo never recovered enough to even practice. So he’s out for the time being.

His replacement, Nick Mullens, will start his first game since 2018. And he won’t have Deebo Samuel, Raheem Mostert or Tevin Coleman -- they’re all injured. And he may or may not have tight end George Kittle -- the 49ers will provide more information on his status for Sunday’s game on Friday.

The 49ers will need Kittle for his blocking more than anything -- their offensive line was terrible against the Jets, and the Giants have a huge defensive line. If the Niners don’t run the ball well, they’ll have trouble winning. Kittle should improve the run game if he plays.

In the passing game, look for Mullens to target Kittle, Kendrick Bourne and Brandon Aiyuk frequently with 10 to 20-yard passes over the middle. And look for Mullens to use Jordan Reed, Ross Dwelley and Jerick McKinnon as safety valves when the wide receivers don’t get open downfield. Look for Mullens to be aggressive and make quick decisions.

The 49ers season is in his hands. Let’s see what he does with it.

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Grant Cohn
GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.

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