Jimmy Garoppolo was as surprised as everyone else to stay with the San Francisco 49ers for the 2022 season.

Garoppolo was expected to be released by the 49ers before Tuesday's deadline for teams to cut their rosters to 53 players ahead of the regular season but instead agreed a renegotiated one-year deal to stay in San Francisco.

The team had attempted to move Garoppolo this offseason as part of the transition to Trey Lance as their starting quarterback, having traded three first-round picks to select the younger man with the third overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft.

An offseason shoulder injury for Garoppolo did not help matters, though, and he will instead serve as back-up to Lance after 45 starts for the 49ers and a strong 31-14 record.

"[Returning] really wasn't on my mind to be completely honest," Garoppolo said on Thursday, speaking for the first time since the news broke.

"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 needed to figure out where it was. Things kind of fell into place these last couple days."

Garoppolo had considered asking to be released by the team but said it "just wasn't the way I wanted to go".

Now, with clauses to prevent him being traded or tagged, the quarterback will have control of his career beyond 2022.

"Trust me, there was a lot of back and forth going on just with other teams and what I wanted my future to look like," he explained. "This is what I wanted."

For now, Garoppolo will continue to work with Lance, who insists that is no issue.

"It's not my decision; it's an organisation decision," Lance said.

"Jimmy's been on the roster this whole entire time. Obviously, I knew it was a possibility of bringing him back.

"There's been no bad blood at all between me and Jimmy since day one. I was all arms open, excited to have him back."