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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 pre-season depth chart. And he’s buried as a fourth string option.
Garoppolo is behind Trey Lance, Nate Sudfeld and Brock Purdy. It’s surprising to even see Garoppolo on the depth chart given that he basically uses the workplace as a free gym membership.
Two weeks ago, the 49ers finally gave up the ruse that Garoppolo would potentially receive $25 million to stay on the team. They’re waiting for a starter with another franchise to get injured and potentially lost for the year or most of it.
The only question at this point, raised Monday and discussed on PFT Live Tuesday, is whether the 49ers would add Garoppolo to the Aug. 30 roster after being reduced to 53 players. Since his base salary of $24.2 million isn’t guaranteed unless he’s on the active list as of 4:00 p.m. ET on Saturday, September 10, maybe they’ll keep him at 53 for 12 days -man list as they wait for a trading opportunity to arise in the eleventh hour.