An excited crowd at EverBank Stadium let out a gasp of air and then went silent with less than five minutes left in the fourth quarter during the Jacksonville Jaguars and Cincinnati Bengals Monday Night Football clash.
Trevor Lawrence, the franchise quarterback who had guided the team to an AFC South title and one of the conference’s best records in 2023, left with a horrific ankle injury. Lawrence was seen getting stepped on and being bent over backward late in the game.
From there, many across the NFL wondered who was lined up behind “T-Law.”
Who Is C.J. Beathard? Backup Takes Late Reins for Jaguars
C.J. Beathard was thrust into quarterbacking duties after Lawrence went down and got X-rays.
Beathard happens to be no stranger to the NFL realm, let alone to situations like the one he got thrown into on Monday night.
The 30-year-old is on his second NFL franchise after coming into the league as a third-round draft pick in 2017. He began with the San Francisco 49ers and ended up starting in 12 total games for the team across three seasons. That was because Jimmy Garoppolo had an oft-injured career in the Bay Area.
Beathard then signed with the Jaguars in the 2021 season. That was during a time the Jags drafted Lawrence first overall and hired Urban Meyer as head coach. Beathard was really in place to give Lawrence a veteran presence to learn from.
Is This the First Time Beathard Played for the Jaguars?
Beathard has never started for the Jags, as Lawrence has stayed relatively healthy until the MNF moment versus the Bengals.
In total, he’s only thrown 17 total passes in limited duty for the Jags across the three seasons he’s been with the team. He’s completed 12 of those throws for 82 yards but no touchdowns and one interception.
Beathard officially went in at the 2:28 mark of the fourth quarter. And his first snap involved a fumble recovered by the Jags.
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