The first preseason game for both the San Francisco 49ers and Baltimore Ravens is upon us. To a casual fan, the preseason is extremely meaningless, but to an avid football fan, there are a lot of interesting storylines in play. Here are a few things in this game to keep an eye on:

For the Ravens, they have a new offensive coordinator, Gary Kubiak, who is bringing a new system with him. Something to watch here is how the offense is handling the system. If they seem to be struggling with it a little bit, I would expect to see the starters in for multiple series.

While the Ravens’ offense is on the field, something to watch on the 49ers’ defense is the inside linebacker competition between rookie Chris Borland and Michael Wilhoite. Both are trying to win the starting job while NaVorro Bowman is recovering from a devastating knee injury sustained in the NFC Conference Championship game last season. Something else to watch is the cornerback position. While Tramaine Brock and Chris Culliver are the presumed starters, it’ll be interesting to see how the competition for the nickel and dime cornerback spots shake out as well as the depth chart at that position.

One more thing to keep an eye on for the 49ers’ defense is Tank Carradine. After sitting out all of last season with an injury it’ll be really interesting to see how he does in live action. Defensive coordinator Vic Fangio has said Carradine is physically ready but still isn’t there mentally. It’ll be important to see how he does with those and to also see if his strength is as dominating in game situations.

Defensively for the Ravens it’s a little bit different than their offense. On defense they basically know what they have. They’ll most likely keep the veterans in for a series or two and the younger guys in a little bit longer. Head coach John Harbaugh has said that his main goal in preseason is to keep everyone fresh and healthy.

The 49ers are similar to that on offense. The main thing they’ll be looking for on offense is the depth they have at wide receiver. New addition Steve Johnson will be someone to watch since he’s new to the offense as well as second year player Quinton Patton. Bruce Ellington is also a wide receiver to watch as well, mainly because he’ll be returning kicks.

The first preseason game usually doesn’t give us the most to watch in terms of stars and starters but it’s extremely important as far as helping decide positional battles and depth charts. This Ravens-49ers game will most certainly be the least exciting game they’ve had against each other since Jim and John Harbaugh have been the head coaches, but it will still play an important role in determining the final rosters for each team.