Nick Mullens went undrafted, but that never stopped the 49ers' QB

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SANTA CLARA — Quarterback Nick Mullens may not have been drafted, but he showed he could have what it takes.

His ability was on display in the 49ers 34-3 win over the Raiders

Mullens broke many of Brett Favre’s records at Southern Miss, but still wasn’t one of the quarterbacks drafted in 2017. Coach Kyle Shanahan gave his thoughts for the reasons why. 

“Not a lot of quarterbacks do get drafted ,” Shanahan said. “It’s usually less than 10 each year and there’s only 32 starters in the league. It’s only one spot. Very rarely, not many teams keep three on a roster just because the three is never dressed on gameday. So, if people don’t see them coming in right away at having a chance to be a one or a two, people don’t spend a lot of draft picks on those.”

At 6-foot-1 and 210 pounds, Mullens is not a stand out in stature. He also played in a spread offense which didn’t put him under center very often. Shanahan said there were other elements about Mullens’ game that caught the attention of the 49ers staff. 

“Most of the colleges aren’t under center,” Shanahan said. “You’ve got to guess how they’re going to be in the NFL because they throw so many bubbles and screens and things like that which can give you very good stats but they’re not totally gradable things. 

“Nick didn’t have a ton of that. But, the type of guy he was, the way he did play within his offense, we knew he was a good football player. We had an idea that he wasn’t going to get drafted and we hoped that we would be able to compete for him in free agency and we did.”

Mullens’ NFL debut was anything but average. He completed 16 of his 22 passes for 262 yards, three touchdowns, no interceptions and a rating of 151.9. He shared the wealth, completing passes to eight different receivers. 

Mullens’ longest play of the day was a 13 yard pass to tight end George Kittle. He threaded the needle in tight coverage and put the ball where only Kittle could reach it. Kittle made an outstanding one-handed catch and ran another 58 yards, nearly getting into the end zone. 

After watching game film, Shanahan had good things to say about Mullens’ performance. 

“I thought he was very efficient, made some big plays,” Shanahan said. “Getting to number two in his progression on that throw to Kittle, did a hell of a job. Kittle made a hell of a catch on it, too. A couple of the plays down in the red zone, also. Did a good job getting rid of the ball, changing his arm angle a number of times and got us in and out of the huddle very efficiently.”

Shanahan, like Mullens’ teammates, has been impressed by the work ethic of the young quarterback. 

“That’s kind of what I meant last night when I said he’s a machine,” Shanahan said. “He’s always working. If you came in and didn’t know anything, you would think he’s always preparing to start that week. He’s been that way since the day he’s gotten here.”

Shanahan will take his time over the long weekend to make his decision on who will get the start in the Monday Night match up against the New York Giants.

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