Jimmy Garoppolo will battle with Trey Lance for the San Francisco 49ers’ starting quarterback job during training camp in about two months.

It was less than a month ago that San Francisco selected Lance from North Dakota State with the third pick in the 2021 NFL Draft shortly after pulling off a blockbuster trade with the Miami Dolphins. At that point, evidence seemed to point in the direction of the 49ers moving off Garoppolo in a trade.

Now that things have cooled off some on that front, Garoppolo joined Lance in taking part in voluntary organized team activities in Santa Clara starting Tuesday. The Super Bowl quarterback opened up about his thought process immediately after the aforementioned trade, clearly indicating that he considered requesting a trade.

“When it initially happened, there’s a million emotions that go on throughout your head, and you think of all the possible scenarios and things like that. But at the end of the day, I want to play football. I want to go out there and win games. That’s what I do. And so it wasn’t anything too crazy," Garoppolo told reporters. "It took a little while to process everything. But once I did, it was just, ‘Go out there and ball.’ You got to go out and attack it. The NFL is a crazy business. Things happen, but you have to attack it day by day and make the best of it.”

It makes sense that Garoppolo was taken aback by the San Francisco 49ers first trading up to the third pick, and then, selecting Lance. When on the field, the 29-year-old quarterback has been extremely successful.

He boasts a 22-8 record as a starter for the 49ers since being acquired from the New England Patriots midway through the 2017 season. Unfortunately, Garoppolo has also missed 23 of a possible 48 games in three full seasons with San Francisco. That led to head coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch taking a chance on Lance.

What's next for Jimmy Garoppolo and the San Francisco 49ers?

Unless Garoppolo returns to 2019 form and leads San Francisco to a deep playoff run this coming season, he'll likely be calling another NFL city home in 2022. This puts some pressure on Garoppolo to quiet critics in what could potentially be his final go-around with the 49ers.

“When you hear those critiques and you hear those little things out there, it pushes you to take your game to the next level. We’re all competitors out there. We all want to go play the perfect game, and at the end of the day, that’s what we’re trying to do. I’ll keep pushing myself," Garoppolo said.

From a micro standpoint, the veteran will want to prove to other teams that he's a capable starter moving forward. Of course, that's dependent on Garoppolo actually earning the San Francisco 49ers' QB1 job over Trey Lance during training camp. Right now, this is not a guarantee.

There's also a chance that another quarterback gets injured during camp or the preseason. Should Lance beat out Garoppolo, that could expedite the quarterback's departure from Northern California.

For now, Garoppolo is pressing on after the initial shock of realizing that the San Francisco 49ers are preparing for a future without him.