Just days after the San Francisco 49ers saw their 2025 season come to a close, John Lynch, the general manager, made it clear that nothing would be overlooked. He pledged to dig into every possible factor that may have played a role in the wave of injuries that derailed their year. Oddly enough, that included a substation. If you step outside Gate C of Levi Stadium and follow Bill Walsh Way, you will see a dull electrical substation. Now, thousands of those are scattered all over the country to ensure that the power grid keeps on running, but the one outside Levi Stadium, in particular, caught public interest.

A theory had emerged that somehow the substation near the team had a link with the health problems of the team. What began as a harmless joke in the locker room quickly caught the attention of the mass media. And Lynch has now come in to put an end to this suggestion. Hear it from him.

“It basically was a big nothing burger,” he said on Sunday afternoon at the NFL’s annual meetings. “We’re in a safe place of work. It’s a normal place of work. It’s a normal gym. We are safe, we’re healthy, and we feel really good about that.

“That was important to us, not just to turn a blind eye, but to look into it because it’s our players’ wellness. It’s not only our players’ wellness, it’s coaches, it’s staff, all that. And it’s encouraging.”

His words were not without evidence. Lynch revealed that the franchise brought in an independent scientist to take a closer look at the substation, hoping to determine whether there was any truth to the belief that the facility itself might be playing a role in their injuries. The scientist (whose identity has not been disclosed but reportedly has more than 45 years of experience studying electromagnetic fields and their effects) was given full access to the facility.

Using what the team described as “lab-grade equipment,” he measured electromagnetic output throughout the building, focusing specifically on areas where players spend time. What was the conclusion?

Those results indicated that the facility was 400 times below the unsafe-environment threshold. According to the scientist, the exposure levels at the facility were comparable to those found in a “typical workplace or commercial gym.” They noted that everyday items like a vacuum cleaner, hair dryer, or microwave oven would actually produce higher levels.

“I felt like it would be that way, but it’s encouraging that it came out in a good place,” Lynch added

He also noted that not a single free agent brought up concerns about the electrical substation theory. That’s big, considering last season was especially rough for San Francisco. The team lost key players like Nick Bosa with a torn ACL, Fred Warner with a broken ankle, and George Kittle with a torn Achilles tendon to season-ending injuries.

There is a positive update on some players

Lynch mentioned Nick Bosa and Mykel Williams are recovering well from torn ACLs and could participate in training camp, even if in a limited capacity. For the first time, he added that George Kittle, who tore his ACL in the NFC Wild Card win over the Philadelphia Eagles on January 11, might be ready for the start of the season.

“I think we’re hopeful for Week 1,” Lynch mentioned. “He’s progressing at a good rate.”

Moreover, the 49ers had to deal with injuries that forced key players to be out for a long period of time. Brock Purdy had a turf toe variant in the season opener against the Seahawks. Ricky Pearsall had been dealing with a sprained knee and ankle, but later injured his PCL in a 26-21 loss to the Jaguars.

Jauan Jennings was also out with rib, shoulder, and ankle injuries, while Tatum Bethune was out with a groin tear that eventually put him on injured reserve in January. The 49ers had 20 players on their reserve list during the season, which was more than $95 million in adjusted annual contract value, the highest in the league by almost $20 million, according to OverTheCap.

The 49ers dealt with a major wave of injuries last season, even though they still finished 12-5 in 2025. Their playoff run ended in the Divisional Round with a 41-6 loss to the Seattle Seahawks, the team that went on to win the Super Bowl.

While the 49ers did go through an unusually high number of injuries, the idea that a substation was the cause was just a strange theory that gained traction online and nothing more.

The 49ers’ electrical substation injury conspiracy details

Back on January 6, a self-described “board-certified quantum biology practitioner” made a post on X that quickly went viral, racking up millions of views. The post claimed that an electrical substation near the 49ers’ facility in Santa Clara is the reason for players’ injuries, as the magnetic fields from it were weakening players’ collagen and leading to more injuries than other teams experience.

Despite it being just a viral post, the 49ers’ general manager took the matter seriously. Once the theory started spreading among fans, Lynch responded that same month, saying the team would look into it.

According to Lynch, since the issue is about the health and safety of the players, it was something that needed to be carefully considered and fully examined rather than relying on unverified research. He also made it clear that the team’s focus went far beyond conspiracy theories and was centered on improving how they handle injuries overall.

“The fact of the matter is injuries are a part of this game,” Lynch said in January. “What we strive to do is never to eliminate injuries, but to mitigate injuries. And I think we have a lot of good processes. We’ll challenge them all. And that process has begun. It never frankly stopped. But yes, we’ll look at everything, and we’ll examine everything.”

The 49ers followed through on that promise and actually conducted a proper review into whether the nearby substation had any effect on injuries, rather than ignoring the situation.

But even before that, experts had already pushed back on the theory. In fact, Frank de Vocht, a professor of epidemiology and public health at Bristol Medical School in England, who is a leading expert on how EMFs affect humans, called the idea “nonsense.”

At the end of the day, what started as a viral theory fell apart as soon as it was put to the test. Even though this theory got so much attention online, there is no evidence that the substation near the 49ers had anything to do with the team’s injuries.