Niners LB Aldon Smith stepping away from team to “fix” problems

San Francisco 49’ers  Aldon Smith played in his last game for minute. Following Smith’s arrest Friday morning, the linebacker will miss Thursday night’s game against the Rams and probably longer per 49ers CEO Jed York.

Smith will enter rehab. Following the Niners loss on Sunday to the Colts, Smith apologized but didn’t answer questions.

“First off, I wanted to apologize to the team, the organization, my family and everybody I let down,” he said. “I also wanted to let it be known that this is a problem and it’s something that I will get fixed, and that I’ll do everything in my power to make sure that this never happens again. “I also wanted to let everybody know that once again I’m sorry.”

Under the collective bargaining agreement and the league’s substance-abuse policy, the 49ers can’t suspend Smith. But Smith taking proactive action is probably important to his longterm success with the Niners. Well that and no more arrests.