Jimmy Garoppolo remains on the 49ers’ roster . . . for now.
The 49ers gave the quarterback the opportunity to find a trade partner, and crickets have followed. Garoppolo is working out on his own at the team facility as he bides his time waiting for his next opportunity.
Any interested team surely is biding its time, waiting for the 49ers to cut Garoppolo.
The 49ers are biding their time, waiting for an injury to a starting quarterback to create interest.
There seems to be no hurry.
The 49ers could make a move on Garoppolo at the Aug. 30 cutdown to 53 players. Or they could hold onto him until the day before their season opener. If they cut him before 4 p.m. on Sept. 10, he gets none of his 2022 salary of $24.2 million.
After that, the money becomes guaranteed.
49ers owner Jed York said this week that he is fine with keeping Garoppolo on the roster all season and paying him his money.
“I’ve said this before, you can’t have enough good quarterbacks and good football players,” York told Tim Kawakami on The TK Show. “I’m not going to get into roster discussions and what John [Lynch] and Kyle [Shanahan] want to do, but I will support them in sort of anything that they want to make this team as good as it can possibly be.
“I watched it with Joe [Montana] and Steve [Young] and I realize the salary cap is different today than having no salary cap. But we’ve said it before: We’re happy to keep Jimmy. We’re happy to have him on the roster. And if that’s the case, then that’s the case.”
The chances of the 49ers holding onto Garoppolo after Sept. 10 are slim and none. They need the money for players due extensions, and no one in the building wants Trey Lance looking over his shoulder at Garoppolo all season. Garoppolo will end up elsewhere this season. The only questions are: When and where?