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The San Francisco 49ers practice facility theory that being positioned next to a power substation causes an increase in injuries remains relevant after tight end George Kittle’s comments in a recent interview.
Kittle, who suffered a torn Achilles tendon in the 49ers’ Wild Card Round loss to the Super Bowl-winning Seattle Seahawks, spoke with Complex on Wednesday when asked about this theory.
Although Kittle doesn’t believe it’s true, he wants further investigation because of something he noticed during his freshman year in 2017.
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George Kittle of the San Francisco 49ers is carried off the field during the second quarter of the NFC Wild Card Playoff game against the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field on January 11, 2026 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)
As Kittle looked to make an impact on his NFL team, one of his veteran teammates pointed out that the trees between the team’s facility and the substation never grew the leaves they should all year long.
The NFL had the trees cut down this year, Kittle added.
“(The trees aren’t) there anymore, so no one can see them,” Kittle said. “So only us vets know that’s the truth. I don’t think anyone has talked about it yet. That one ruined it for me.”
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Again, Kittle doesn’t believe the rumors are true, but he also wants a definitive answer. He added that teammate Kyle Juszczyk and others feel the same way.
“As a professional athlete, you’re always trying to improve by one percent. If something affects you negatively by 0.25 percent, you’d want to know that. All we’re saying as players is we’d like them to look into it to make sure it’s not something,” Kittle said.
To support Kittle’s idea that the substation doesn’t do anything to the players, he mentioned Fred Warner, who suffered a broken ankle in October that knocked him out for the season. Warner trains there all year round and his ankle injury is the only serious one he has suffered during his career.
San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle (85) attends the San Francisco 49ers minicamp on June 10, 2025, at the SAP Performance Facility in Santa Clara, California. (Matthew Huang/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
PK Press Club Digital also spoke with some of Kittle’s teammates during Super Bowl LX week, including Warner, Brock Purdy and Christian McCaffrey, who were all happy with the setup.
“Man, I’m not a scientist and I’m not a doctor. Look, we’ll play anywhere. You know, for us, I think it’s something that a lot of people smarter than me can talk about,” McCaffrey told PK Press Club Digital on the radio.
“All I know is there are too many variables in football to say something like that is the cause of injuries. I mean, you can do everything right and bad things can still happen, so.”
The theory, which has gone viral, suggests that the 49ers’ unusually high number of soft tissue and non-contact injuries could be due to electromagnetic fields (EMF) emitted by the substation. The claim is that staying near the substation for years could weaken tendons and soft tissues, leading to serious injuries like a torn ACL or Achilles.
San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle (85) watches from the sidelines during the first quarter against the Denver Broncos at Levi’s Stadium on August 9, 2025. (David Gonzales/Imagn Images)
McCaffrey, Kittle, Purdy, Nick Bosa, Dre Greenlaw, Ricky Pearsall and many others have suffered these types of injuries over the past two seasons, as the theory points out.
ESPN reported in January that the team planned to investigate all theories, not just the one involving the substation, this offseason to determine why their injury list was so long in 2025.
