By: Joe Lami

Saturday begins a brand new season for the 49ers, as they travel to Houston to take on the Houston Texans in their first pre-season game of the year. Thus ending one of the roughest offseason’s the Niners have had in recent memory.  With the latest happening Friday, as San Francisco announced the release of Aldon Smith.  The release came after a report that the 25-year old linebacker had been arrested on Thursday night for the fifth time since 2012.  49ers coach, Jim Tomsula, commented on the release “We’re not worried about football. It has nothing to do with football”.

Fortunately for the Niners, they’re able to get back on the field this Saturday. With that in mind, there are a few things to keep an eye on as we move forward in the pre-season. The first of which is to find out who will be replacing Smith as the outside linebacker.  Tomsula commented on losing one of the best pass rushers in the game, “Well, I mean, we’ve drafted. We have a group there. I mean, it’s an area that, regardless if that area, if we felt that area was loaded or we had a lot of people, a lot of good quality talent in the group, which we do. But, that would not have factored into this decision. Not in this case”.

Navorro Bowman will also be returning to the field for the first time since the 2013 NFC Championship game, as he will need to be the savior on defense this season. Getting to see how his leg holds up in limited action will be a gauge of how really prepared he is for this coming season.  Word has it that he is 100%, and he was looking outstanding at training camp, but the eye test isn’t complete until he plays in a real game situation.

Besides the mess at linebacker that will begin to be settled on Saturday, the first preseason matchup of the season will give a chance for fans to see “the new” Collin Kaepernick.  Kaepernick had been working with former NFL quarterback Kurt Warner during this offseason to improve his motion.  From what I could tell at training camp, it was looking a lot better compared to last season.  Kaepernick also was looking a lot more comfortable in the pocket and was able to move around and find an opener receiver.  However, with this observation occurring at training camp, where Collin knows he won’t get hit, he was good.  Come Saturday, when J.J. Watt will be rushing him off his right side, we will see how comfortable he is moving around in the pocket.  Will Kaepernick be this new quarterback we’ve been hearing about or will he return to his old self, being forced into bad decisions?

Finally, the 49ers will get to see their first look at new arrivals Reggie Bush and Jarryd Hayne. Both Bush and Hayne will be competing for the backup running back spot with much excitement coming for both men.  Hayne, a former rugby star in Australia, looking to make a NFL roster spot will be sure to bring a nice physicality to the position.  Bush is entering his tenth season in the NFL, with over 5,000 career rushing yards and 35 touchdowns.  He’s looking for a much needed bounce back season, after only getting 76 touches for 297 yards last season for the Detroit Lions.  Bush will also be bringing his speed to the kick return game, as he was getting reps in training camp.