Quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo has a new five-year, $137.5 million contract with the San Francisco 49ers. He joined head coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch for a press conference on Friday. Garoppolo is excited to be the 49ers' franchise quarterback and is looking forward to the 2018 season.
"I'm excited," Garoppolo told reporters. "It's been a long time coming for this thing. I think we got it figured out pretty quickly though. I'm very happy with how it got figured out. So, I'm excited for this next year but, like John said, we've got a lot of work to do. We're looking forward to it."
The 49ers acquired Garoppolo from the New England Patriots via a trade on October 30, 2017. He only started five games with San Francisco. What was it about his short experience with the 49ers that made him want to remain with the team?
"I think it was a number of things," Garoppolo said. "The team, the acceptance that they had of me when I first got here from the get-go, the coaching staff. I mean, Kyle and [quarterbacks coach] Rich [Scangarello], it was a very welcoming environment, and I really liked that.
"We had some success down the stretch, and you could see that pieces were falling into place. We've got a long way to go, but I think we're moving in the right direction."
Some believed that Garoppolo and his agent, Don Yee, would take a patient approach to his contract and possibly even wait until after the start of free agency to see how Kirk Cousins impacts the quarterback market. Had that occurred, the 49ers would have been forced to use the franchise tag and then continue negotiations through July 16.
Lynch and the 49ers didn't want to wait. They saw enough in Garoppolo's small sample size to make them believe he was the right guy to lead the franchise.
"We didn't want to use [the franchise tag]," Lynch said. "We wanted to make Jimmy a 49er for a long, long time. Do you have to have some faith for that? Absolutely. But he earned that faith that we have in him. I know it wasn't a super long time (that he was here), but like we said, we felt like we had a really good grasp on the talent. That was only confirmed when he got here.
"But what we really learned about is what kind of person he is, what kind of teammate he is, what kind of competitor. When you see that, and you have the two things, that's pretty special. It has an opportunity to be special.
"And then the team did pretty well when he was in there. What excites me is that he hadn't even had an offseason, and now when he gets to sit down with Kyle and understand a little bit about the thought process behind the plan, I think it's only going to get better."
Lynch, Shanahan, and the 49ers knew they wanted Garoppolo. Garoppolo also knew he wanted to stay with the 49ers. Why didn't he and his agent wait to see what the quarterback landscape looked like after March 14?
"Because this is where I want to be, honestly," Garoppolo answered. "I wanted to get this deal done as fast as possible. It's only going to help our team going forward, going into free agency. It is 75 degrees out here. It's not a snowstorm like Chicago ... It's a lot better here. There's a lot of other factors that go into it too. That's a big part.
"I wanted to be here. I'm excited to be here. And I'm happy we got it done as fast as we did."