Jimmy Garoppolo says staying with San Francisco 49ers 'really wasn't on my mind' until recently

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — For as surprised as the San Francisco 49ers were that they were able to retain quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo on a significantly reduced contract, that paled in comparison to how Garoppolo himself thought his dramatic offseason would end.

On Thursday, Garoppolo spoke to Bay Area media for the first time since Feb. 1 and the first time since signing a revised one-year contract to stay in San Francisco on Monday. It's not a position Garoppolo envisioned himself returning to after saying an emotional goodbye to the team, its fans and media in the winter.

That's because, throughout a turbulent offseason that included right shoulder surgery, Garoppolo always believed an opportunity to start elsewhere would materialize.

"[Returning] really wasn't on my mind to be completely honest," Garoppolo said. «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.»

For most of the offseason, a divorce between Garoppolo and the Niners seemed imminent with Trey Lance set to take over at quarterback.

According to Garoppolo, he and his representatives had «a lot of discussions with other teams» but nothing ever reached the stage where a different team talked to him about re-working his contract to facilitate a trade.

Had it not been for the shoulder surgery, that might have been a different story, however. At the NFL owners' meetings in the spring, general manager John Lynch said any serious interest vanished when Garoppolo underwent the procedure.

On Thursday, Lynch revealed that he did think