For San Francisco 49ers franchise quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, a sales pitch wasn't necessary.

The moment he arrived in the Bay Area and had a chance to get a sense of what the 49ers organization is all about, he knew he wanted to stay. He knew, despite looming unrestricted free agency, he wanted to remain in a Niners uniform, according to Charean Williams of Pro Football Talk.

“I wasn’t careful [about his choice of words]; I knew I wanted to be here,” said Garoppolo, whose deal is worth $137.5 million. “I knew it was just a matter of getting everything figured out. We did that fairly quickly this offseason. I’m excited about it and thankful that it got done so fast. It’s an exciting time right now.”

In addition, keeping his current reality in proper perspective seems important to the kid who spent so many years behind Tom Brady in New England.

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“I was talking to my brothers about it the last 24 hours flying here and everything,” Garoppolo said during a Friday press conference. “If you had asked me as a little kid if I thought this was a reality, probably not. But you always dream about being that NFL quarterback and everything. This is just taking another step in that direction I guess.”

Garoppolo, 26, is a four-year NFL pro who arrived in the Bay Area at the trade deadline this past season. Knowing he was playing out his rookie deal, Bill Belichick and the Pats shipped him as far away as they possibly could for an early second-round draft choice.

He then went 5-0 to finish the season after taking over a winless San Fran squad. Throwing for 1,560 yards and seven touchdowns on a cool 67.4 completion percentage, the sky's the limit for this fresh-faced youngster who now owns the league's richest annual salary in NFL history.