Well, let's look at the battles. I'll let you guys look at the "surprises."
Offense:
QB: Colin Kaepernick - Josh Johnson; Blaine Gabbert; McLeod Bethel-Thompson & Kory Faulkner
RB: Frank Gore - Kendall Hunter; Marcus Lattimore; LaMichael James, Jewel Hampton & Carlos Hyde
FB: Bruce Miller - Trey Millard
X: Anquan Boldin - Jon Baldwin.
Y (SLOT): Stevie Johnson & Quinton Patton - Bruce Ellington; Chuck Jacobs & Devon Wiley
Z: Michael Crabtree - Kassim Osgood; Brandon Lloyd & David Reed.
TE: Vernon Davis & Vance McDonald - Garrett Celek & Derek Carrier
LOT: Joe Staley - Luke Marquardt & Al Netter
ROT: Anthony Davis - Jonathan Martin & Carter Bykowski
LG: Mike Iupati - Joe Looney & Ryan Seymour
RG: Alex Boone - Adam Snyder & (Brandon Thomas)
C: Daniel Kilgore or Marcus Martin - Dillon Ferrell
Battles: There is a battle for the 2nd string QB, 1st-4th RB position, the backup role at the X & Z WR & Y WR spots, for the H-back role as the #3 TE, primary backup L & ROT, backup at both G spots and starting C position.
Defense:
RDE: Justin Smith - Tony Jerod-Eddie & Lawrence Okoye
LDE: Ray McDonald - DeMarcus Dobbs; Quinton Dial; Tank Carradine & Kaleb Ramsey
NT: Glenn Dorsey - Ian Williams & Mike Purcell.
WILL: Aldon Smith - Dan Skuta & Morgan Breslin
SAM: Ahmad Brooks - Corey Lemonier & Aaron Lynch
MIKE: Patrick Willis - Nick Moody
TED: Michael Wilhoite - Chris Borland & Shayne Skov
RCB: Tramaine Brock - Eric Wright; Chris Cook & Keith Reaser.
LCB: Chris Culliver - Dontae Johnson & Kenneth Acker
SLOT/NICKLE: Jimmie Ward - Perrish Cox & Darryl Morris.
FS: Eric Reid - C.J. Spillman; L.J. McCray & D.J. Campbell.
SS: Antoine Bethea - Craig Dahl & Raymond Ventrone.
Battles: There is a battle for the 2nd string RDE position and #1 in the rotation list, for the potential starting position at LDE, for the starting NT position, primary backup at the TED & WILL positions and #1 in the rotation list, starting and backup ILB positions (TED & MIKE), starting LCB position, SLOT/NICKLE and backup at SS.
Special Teams:
PR/KOR: LaMichael James - Devon Wiley; Perrish Cox, Bruce Ellington, Kenneth Acker & L.J. McCray. Even Carlos Hyde is taking snaps here.
Battle: This will be a monster battle for the dynamic returner we've been missing for years now.
[ Edited by NCommand on May 21, 2014 at 7:01 PM ]