Lynch on releasing Garoppolo to free up cap space: I don’t foresee that; he’s too good of a player

The owners’ meetings for the NFL are underway in Palm Beach, Florida. 49ers’ general manager spoke to the local media Monday morning and discussed the future of Jimmy Garoppolo. It doesn’t appear that Garoppolo’s release is imminent, as this was toward the end of Lynch’s presser:

“I think we’re fortunate that we have three quarterbacks we believe in Trey, Jimmy & Nate. And, you know, some people are looking for one. So I think that’s a position of strength.”

Lynch isn’t in a position to say much else. If you were hoping for Lynch to give us juicy nuggets to cling to, I have some bad news. Even in this following quote, Lynch is doing more posturing than anything.

According to NBC Sports’ Matt Maiocco, Lynch said he does not envision a scenario where the Niners release Jimmy Garoppolo to free up cap space give the keys to Trey Lance:

“I don’t foresee that. 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.”

Lynch said Garoppolo’s decision to have shoulder surgery stalled potential trade talks:

“There were a ton of conversations and I think there was real good momentum. 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. 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.”

That’s Lynch being honest and telling us how this offseason played out. First, the 49ers likely received trade offers that led them to believe they could move Jimmy. Then, the shoulder surgery happened.

Once it was announced that Garoppolo wouldn’t throw until mid-summer, his value plummeted. It’d be fascinating to know what type of compensation the 49ers were offered pre and post-surgery.

In Maiocco’s article, he said that Lynch mentioned the 49ers didn’t receive a firm offer for Garoppolo from any team. When Lynch says, “never were we just going to give him away,” he’s saying the most recent offers he’s received have been well below the team’s asking price. A part of me thinks this is also Lynch trying to regain any bit of leverage there is to salvage.

There will be an overreaction to the article’s title, but Lynch is telling us about the Niners’ plans: “We were always going to hold true to what we thought his value was. Right now, we hold onto him.”

Oddly, he didn’t name Lance the starter, which makes it seem like most of this is posturing:

There’s a lot of questions of what this means for Trey. The great news is we’re extremely positive as I’ve said and Kyle’s said on Trey’s progress. This offseason he’ll have ample opportunity — as will Nate — to get plenty of reps. And we’re looking forward to that process.

Lynch doesn’t mention Garoppolo being a part of the team during the offseason but also won’t name Lance the starter? We all know how this story will end. The majority of us thought it would be over. But that was before Jimmy’s surgery.

The 49ers remain hopeful another team will come calling. We’ll see if they crack and wind up releasing Garoppolo as the offseason goes along. Remember, football is fluid.