As Christian McCaffrey begins to get back into shape and the 49ers’ offense slowly begins to resemble an elite roster again, it’s worth taking a look back down memory lane to remember that their two key weapons – Brock Purdy and George Kittle – are there only because of thanks. A simple twist of fate and an almost forgotten third string quarterback.

During the 2017 offseason, the 49ers were busy filming and scouting up-and-coming Iowa quarterback CJ Beathard, who they thought could be the quarterback of the future. They were evaluating so much tape on Beathard that they also came across footage of Beathard’s Iowa teammate and tight end target George Kittle.

The Niners drafted Beathard in the third round that year and drafted him, too, while Kittle was still on the board in the fifth round.

We all know how well Kittle has worked, and you might think that all C.J. Beathard has to offer San Fran is to lead the Niners to their star-studded end — but you’d be wrong.

Because when Beathard decided to sign with the Jacksonville Jaguars after four years with the 49ers, his new contract was for two years and $5 million. That was enough for the NFL to award San Francisco a compensatory draft pick, that most elusive and mysterious of draft-related phenomena.

League on football operations website explains compensatory choices hence: “Under the rules governing compensatory draft picks, a team that loses more or better compensatory free agents (‘CFA’) than it acquired in the previous year is eligible to receive compensatory draft picks.”

Essentially, these are picks awarded to teams that lose far more than they gain in free agency in a given year. Tom Brady was also drafted with a compensatory pick, so they have a pretty good track record of game-changing quarterbacks.

It should come as no surprise, then, that the compensatory pick the 49ers received for Beathard was — you guessed it — the 262nd pick in the 2022 NFL Draft. The final pick in the NFL Draft comes with the endearing nickname of “Mr. No matter whose name is mentioned, Irrelevant” was used to draft Brock Purdy, easily the most successful “Mr. Irrelevant” QB the league has ever seen.

But the 49ers would never draft Brock Purdy if it weren’t for the compensatory draft pick they got thanks to CJ Beathard’s signing with the Jaguars. And they would never discover George Kittle if they weren’t spying on CJ Beathard to begin with. So when Beathard eventually retires, John Lynch and the 49ers’ management office might consider offering the guy a job because he seems to offer the team a string of good deals.