Jimmy Garoppolo still surprised he re-signed with the 49ers, coming back ‘really wasn’t on my mind’

One of the more surprising signings of the NFL offseason shocked not only football fans, but the player himself.

After publicly saying they wanted to move quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, the San Francisco 49ers were able to retain the signal caller on a revised 1-year deal.

Garoppolo spoke to media members in the Bay Area on Thursday for the first time since February.

The two-time Super Bowl winner with the Patriots took the Niners to Super Bowl LIV, where they lost to the Kansas City Chiefs, was expected to be traded as San Francisco prepares to start Trey Lance.

‘[Returning] really wasn’t on my mind to be completely honest,’ Garoppolo told reporters. ‘I was training out here. I had to be here, so I was here for that reason. I was just trying to get my body right. 

‘I felt very confident out there and I knew that I was ready to roll. I just need to figure out where it was. And things kind of fell into place these last couple days.’

Per Garoppolo, his representatives had, ‘a lot of discussions with other teams’, but nothing materialized or got to the point where ‘Jimmy G’ needed to change his contract.

Over the offseason, the QB underwent surgery on his shoulder – which evaporated any interest in Garoppolo according to 49ers general manager John Lynch.

However, Lynch said he believed a move could have happened at some point. 

‘What I can tell you with great confidence is like combine time, there were really serious talks with probably two, three teams that I felt — you’d have to ask them — like this was gonna happen,’ Lynch said. 

‘And then that’s when that news broke.’

When Garoppolo resumed throwing in late June and began practicing again in late July, that previous interest never showed up again.

‘That’s why we were a little at a loss,’ Lynch said. ‘Yeah. Because you can talk to his doctor, you can talk to our doctor, he can talk to a lot of people and he was doing well. But we’re happy that they didn’t. We’re happy that he’s here.’

With this week’s roster cuts, Garoppolo had to choose between a backup role with his current team at a pay cut, or try and find a new home. 

At the end of it all, Garoppolo chose to stay with a team he knew, a scheme he fit, coaches he worked with, and what he thought was the best chance to win a better situation in 2022.