Jimmy Garoppolo is on the team, but he’s not really on the team.
He’s on the team just enough to land on the mandatory preseason depth chart. And he’s buried as the fourth-string option.
Garoppolo is behind Trey Lance, Nate Sudfeld, and Brock Purdy. It’s surprising to even see Garoppolo on the depth chart at all, given that he’s basically using the workplace as a free gym membership.
Two weeks ago, the 49ers finally abandoned the ruse that Garoppolo potentially would be paid $25 million to remain on the team. They’re waiting for a starter with another franchise to be injured and potentially lost for the year or most of it.
The only question at this point, as raised Monday and discussed on Tuesday’s PFT Live, is whether the 49ers would carry Garoppolo on the roster after the reduction to 53 players on August 30. Since his $24.2 million base salary doesn’t become guaranteed unless he’s on the active roster as of 4:00 p.m. ET on Saturday, September 10, maybe they’ll keep him on the 53-man roster for 12 days, while they wait for an eleventh-hour trade opportunity to emerge.