For years the San Francisco 49ers couldn’t hit Alex Smith in practice.
Now that he’ll be on the other sideline, the 49ers are looking forward to the opportunity to put him on his backside.
Smith faces his former team for the first time on Friday night and linebacker NaVorro Bowman and cornerback Carlos Rogers are ready for the chance to play against their former quarterback.
“We never got a chance to hit him,” Bowman said, via Janie McCauley of the Associated Press. “This time we can. We’re looking forward to it. I know Alex knows we’re coming. It’s football, man. He’s on another team and we have to go out there and play our game.”
Smith played the first eight seasons of his career with the 49ers, most of that time spent serving as the team’s starting quarterback. Smith was eventually replaced last season by Colin Kaepernick before being traded to the Kansas City Chiefs this offseason. While it may only be the preseason, don’t expect either side to take it easy on the other Friday night.
“He’ll probably come after me because we were always talking junk during practices while he was here. I’m going to take a look at the film and see what we can come up with,” Rogers said. “It will be really fun. I’m pretty sure he’s going to be talking junk. He’s going to want to go at our defense because now he gets the opportunity.”