The Facts: An excited Kaepernick traced his optimism for the 49ers' coming season to a "cleaned-up" offense. Specifically, Kaepernick credited the streamlined approach to new OC Geep Chryst and his replacement as QBs coach, Steve Logan. "We've cleaned a lot of things up, and made it more comfortable and friendly for players to be able to go out and make plays," Kaepernick said at the start of the team's recent mandatory mini-camp.

Diehards Line: As Times staffer Cam Inman notes, among the friendly sights are the new deep threats in Torrey Smith and Jerome Simpson. Kaepernick completed a couple of passes to Smith over 20 yards in the recent team drills inside Levi's Stadium, where the 49ers plan to practice more in hopes of better familiarity with the home field. Kaepernick believes his more compact throwing motion will enhance his deep-ball accuracy, which he's happy to test out on Smith and Simpson, among others. "They bring a lot of speed to the field, a lot of deep, vertical threat," Kaepernick said. "That's something I'm looking forward to this coming season, having the opportunity to take (deep) shots." The 49ers offense ranked 30th in passing and 20th in total yards last season, in the final year under former HC Jim Harbaugh and OC Greg Roman. Their 19.1 points per game ranked 25th. In other words, there's plenty of room for improvement.