49ers CEO Jed York: 'We're happy to keep' Jimmy Garoppolo on the roster

Long before the San Francisco 49ers publicly named 2021 rookie Trey Lance their new starting quarterback over veteran Jimmy Garoppolo, general manager John Lynch declared in March that he couldn't "foresee" cutting Garoppolo and making him available to all other teams for free.  

After it was reported that the 49ers had "budgeted for Garoppolo's $26.95 million cap hit" for the upcoming season, team CEO Jed York raised some eyebrows when he remarked that he was open to having Jimmy G on the roster this fall as Lance's backup. 

Currently, Garoppolo is working out away from San Francisco teammates and is fourth on the depth chart as he continues his recovery from March shoulder surgery. While it's widely expected the 30-year-old will eventually land with a quarterback-needy team like the Cleveland Browns before August ends, York repeated while speaking with The Athletic's Tim Kawakami (h/t Pro Football Talk) on an edition of "The TK Show" podcast that Garoppolo ultimately could stay put. 

"I’ve said this before, you can’t have enough good quarterbacks and good football players," York explained. "I’m not going to get into roster discussions and what John and (head coach) 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." 

PFT continues to insist that the $24.2 million base salary for 2022 that Garoppolo is owed per his current deal only becomes guaranteed if he's on the roster as of 4 p.m. ET on Sept. 10. Thus, the 49ers technically have weeks to wait on the Browns and other would-be buyers to make them an offer they can't refuse for the signal-caller.