San Francisco 49ers linebacker Reuben Foster has completed his two-game suspension for violating the NFL's conduct and substances of abuse policies and can rejoin his teammates on Monday. The team will be spending the majority of the day reviewing the film from Sunday's 30-27 victory over the Detroit Lions and taking a look at its next opponent, the Kansas City Chiefs. The 49ers will not get on the practice field until Wednesday.
Quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo was asked on Sunday about the energy Foster brings to the locker room.
"Lot of energy," he responded. "He's an exciting guy to be around. Always smiling, always having a good time. It'll be good to have him back."
The emergence of rookie linebacker Fred Warner has the potential to make the Foster-Warner pairing exciting to watch and dangerous for opposing offenses to go against. In two starts, Warner has recorded 22 combined tackles, a pass defensed, and a forced fumble. He had 10 tackles against the Lions.
Assuming the 49ers plan to have both on the field at the same time, Warner will likely remain at the WILL linebacker spot with Foster lining up at MIKE — or the reverse, depending on what the coaching staff sees this week during practice.
"The way he played [during Week 1], it'd be hard to get that guy off of the field," head coach Kyle Shanahan said after the 49ers' season-opening loss to the Minnesota Vikings. "He did a hell of a job [against the Vikings] in his first game."
Foster, whom the 49ers drafted in the first round last year, started 10 games in 2017 while registering 72 combined tackles with a pass defensed. He missed six games due to injury so staying healthy is a concern for the second-year linebacker.
The player who likely loses from a Foster-Warner pairing is veteran linebacker Malcolm Smith, who has yet to play a single snap for the 49ers since signing a five-year deal last year worth up to $26.5 million. He spent all of last season on injured reserve with a torn pectoral muscle and his debut this year has been slowed by a hamstring injury sustained during his blink-and-you-missed-it appearance in the 49ers' first exhibition game on August 9.
"That is tough when you invest heavily in a player and have high hopes," general manager John Lynch recently said during a KNBR interview. "He was a guy that had played in this system. Robert Saleh was familiar with him from Seattle, and you have great expectations for players. The one thing I will tell you, we really pride ourselves on bringing the right type of guys in and that is Malcolm.
"This isn't something consistent with his history, and he's had a rough go here the last couple of years. He wants to be out here as bad as anyone. We could surely use him."
The 49ers have a potential out on Smith's contract following the 2019 season. Until then, the team seems content in waiting to see if he can get on the field.
