The San Francisco 49ers and the Kansas City Chiefs are not assumed rivals. The Chiefs have never really been good enough to warrant any kind of rivalry with, well, anyone. However, after the team acquired one-time 49ers' starting quarterback Alex Smith in the offseason, there is a bit of emphasis put on their preseason matchup on Friday. Smith has been officially placed on top of the San Francisco hit list and several players are anxious to put a hit on their former teammate.
The 49ers' defensive is loaded with talent and all of last season they were told to never touch Smith. At one point, Smith was "the man" in San Francisco before Colin Kaepernick eventually took over. So as the two teams prepare to face off, Several guys are looking forward to getting after the quarterback a little more than usual.
"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. When he was here we didn't really go against the 1 offense unless it was training camp."
Linebacker NaVorro Bowman echoed these statements noting they were never allowed to get after Smith in practice. Now that he plays for another team, Bowman plans on bringing his A game against Smith.
As for Smith, the Chiefs quarterback is not approaching the game any differently than he would if it was another team. While he has personal ties with the game, he is preparing simply for another top defense.
"Regardless of the fact that I used to play there, they're a good defensive unit," he said "They're a really good defensive unit, and they'll be a good test for us. I mean, they don't have many weaknesses on that side of the ball. It'll be a really good test for us."
49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh recognizes that this game has a little extra weight on it than others. To this day, the head coach remains grateful for getting the opportunity to coach Smith and recognizes how difficult it was to continue to start Kaepernick over the veteran.
"It's personal with Alex. It probably is different in that way," Harbaugh said. "Feel like there's a great friendship there and a lot of history. He's a unique person. A very good, in all ways, a good friend. No longer on our team. Not a trusted agent anymore."
Emotions will remain off the field off Friday. Both teams are approaching it like any other game, but there is no question Smith will have a little added motivation when he throws the ball.
