San Francisco 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan calls 'shocking' Jimmy Garoppolo return a 'win-win' for both parties

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — It was about a month ago that San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch and coach Kyle Shanahan began having conversations about what a scenario in which quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo remains with the team might look like.

By that time, Garoppolo's right shoulder surgery had ruined any chances of an early offseason trade and, as Shanahan put it Tuesday, the NFL's game of quarterback musical chairs had stopped with most of the other seats filled.

In the first week of camp, Shanahan expressed to Garoppolo that if nothing materialized elsewhere, the team would love to welcome Garoppolo back on a reduced contract to be the backup to first-year starter Trey Lance.

Even then, Shanahan, Lynch and the Niners never thought what happened Monday — when the Niners and Garoppolo agreed to a re-worked one-year contract worth about $7 million and up to $16 million with incentives — was a real possibility.

«The chances were, to me, it seemed slim to none,» Shanahan said. «I remember the first week of training camp me saying to Jimmy like, 'Hey, if you don't like any of these opportunities, if you don't go to the place you want, you can't get the contract that you want, we would love to have you here as a backup in that deal.' I want you to know that we feel that way but I also think there's no way you're not gonna get something as this goes throughout training camp.»

The belief by both the Niners and Garoppolo was so strong that he would be playing elsewhere that Garoppolo continued his recovery throwing program on the side while the Niners practiced on neighboring fields.

And while Garoppolo was welcome to attend team meetings and practices, he stayed away because of the belief that he'd be playing elsewhere,