49ers GM John Lynch doesn't 'foresee' cutting QB Jimmy Garoppolo

The status of San Francisco 49ers veteran quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo remains in limbo as he recovers from surgery to repair a torn capsule in his throwing shoulder. While Garoppolo helped the 49ers complete a trip to the NFC Championship Game, where they fell to the eventual Super Bowl champion Los Angeles Rams, 2021 rookie Trey Lance is presumably ready to take over as the club's new starter. 

Multiple knowledgeable football minds have suggested the 49ers could keep Garoppolo and even have him compete with Lance later this year if they don't receive what they feel is adequate compensation for the 30-year-old in a trade. San Francisco general manager John Lynch essentially confirmed that while speaking with media members at the league's annual meetings on Monday. 

"I don’t foresee that," Lynch said of potentially releasing Garoppolo as a salary-cap casualty, per Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports Bay Area. "He’s too good of a player. I don’t foresee that, and I think Jimmy will be playing for us or he’ll be playing for somebody else. He’s too good of a player not to be." 

Releasing Garoppolo would save the 49ers roughly $25 million in cap space, but Lynch added there was "real good momentum" regarding trade talks before the signal-caller went under the knife. 

"Then, the decision that was made for Jimmy to have surgery certainly caused a lot of teams to pause and at least slow down the process to do their due diligence," Lynch explained. "The quarterback musical chairs is going on, and all along we understood that we really value Jimmy and never were we just going to give him away." 

There may not be any landing spots left for a proven commodity such as Garoppolo unless a starting quarterback goes down to an injury this summer. The Carolina Panthers allegedly aren't making calls for Garoppolo or Baker Mayfield of the Cleveland Browns ahead of next month's draft, and logic suggests the 49ers won't want to trade Jimmy G to the division-rival Seattle Seahawks. 

The Niners will be looking to play on the final Sunday of the season next February and may ultimately decide that Garoppolo and not Lance gives them the best chance to reach that goal.