49ers could release Jimmy Garoppolo on cutdown Tuesday; Seahawks ready to pounce?

Tuesday is a very important day around the NFL as it's cutdown day, meaning teams must trim their roster from 80 players to 53. That means there's a decent chance the San Francisco 49ers could release veteran quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo unless they can find a trade partner, which seems rather unlikely because no team lost its starting QB to injury in the preseason.

The Niners already have officially turned the team over to second-year QB Trey Lance, and projected No. 2 Nate Sudfield has a $2 million guaranteed salary so he's not going anywhere. The Niners also like rookie Brock Purdy and may not want to risk losing him on waivers. There's no way the team will have four quarterbacks on the roster after Tuesday.

Coach Kyle Shanahan hasn't ruled out keeping the veteran quarterback – "any scenario is possible" -- but Garoppolo spent all of camp throwing on a side field without his teammates and hasn't taken part in any meetings or practices. There is a bit of wiggle room on cutting Garoppolo in that his fully guaranteed $24.2 million salary isn't due until Sept. 10.

During a recent episode of "The GM Shuffle" podcast, former NFL executive Mike Lombardi said that he expects Seattle to pick up Garoppolo after he clears waivers, and that the Niners desperately don't want Jimmy G to go to another team in the NFC West.

"I keep asking teams all the time, why don't they just cut Jimmy G now? And the answer that I got back from multiple teams is, 'They don't want him to go to Seattle,'" Lombardi said. "I said, 'Well how interested is Seattle in Jimmy G?' And (one source) said, 'Oh, they're very interested in him.' So for all the talk about Geno (Smith), for all the talk about Drew Lock, I think Seattle knows they're going to get Jimmy G. And I think San Francisco knows that he could go there. So they're trying everything in their power to prevent that, and they have no takers."

Seattle has named Smith as the Week 1 starter vs. Denver as he beat out Lock. Smith has a 13-21 career record as a starter. The Seahawks visit the 49ers in Week 2, so in theory if San Francisco kept Garoppolo until right before his contract becomes guaranteed, it may help assure he's not ready in time to potentially face San Francisco if Seattle does pounce.

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