this San Francisco 49ersThe “practice facility theory” remains after tight end George Kittle made comments in a recent interview that being located next to a power substation would lead to an increase in injuries.

Kittle suffered a torn Achilles tendon in the 49ers’ wild-card round loss to the Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks. talk to complexity He was asked about the theory on Wednesday.

While Kittle doesn’t believe this is true, he does want it investigated further because he noticed something during his rookie season in 2017.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM

San Francisco 49ers’ George Kittle is carried off the field during the second quarter of an 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 focuses on using his National Football League On the team, one of his old teammates pointed out that the trees between the team facility and the substation didn’t have as many leaves as they should have throughout the year.

Kittle added that the NFL cut down trees this year.

“(The trees) aren’t there anymore, so no one can see them,” Kittle said. “So, only us veterans know that’s true. I don’t think anyone talks about that yet. That guy screwed me over.”

49ers star weighs in on EMF injury theory: ‘I had no choice’

Once again, Kittle doesn’t believe the rumors are true, but he also wants a clear answer. He added that teammate Kyle Juszczyk and others felt the same way.

“As a professional athlete, you’re always trying to get one percent better. If something negatively impacts you even 0.25 percent, you want to know about it. As athletes, all we say is we want them to look into it to make sure it’s not something,” Kittle said.

To back up Kittle’s point that Substation won’t do anything for players, he pointed to Fred Warner, who suffered a broken ankle in October that sidelined him for the entire season. Warner trained at the facility year-round and the ankle injury was the only serious injury of his career.

San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle (85) watches the San Francisco 49ers mini-camp at the SAP Performance Facility on June 10, 2025 in Santa Clara, California. (Matthew Huang/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Fox News Digital also interviewed some of Kittle’s teammates during Super Bowl VII week, including Warner, Brock Purdy and Christian McCaffreyall were satisfied with the facilities.

“Man, I’m not a scientist, I’m not a doctor. Listen, we’ll play anywhere. You know, for us, I think that’s something a lot of people smarter than me can talk about,” McCaffrey told Fox News Digital on the radio show.

“What I do know is there are too many variables in football to simply say something like this is the cause of the injury. I mean, you can do everything right, but bad things can still happen, so.”

The theory, now widely circulated, suggests that the 49ers’ unusually high number of soft tissue and non-contact injuries may have been caused by electromagnetic fields (EMF) from the electrical substation. It is claimed that years of working around electrical substations can weaken tendons and soft tissues, leading to serious injuries such as a torn ACL or Achilles tendon.

San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle (85) watches from the sideline during the first quarter against the Denver Broncos at Levi’s Stadium on August 9, 2025. (David Gonzalez/Imagn Images)

Click here to get the Fox News app

McCaffrey, Kittle, Purdy, Nick Bosa, Dre Greenlaw, Ricky Pearsall and many others have experienced these types of injuries over the past few seasons, as the theory points out.

ESPN reported in January that the team does plan to investigate every theory this offseason, not just the ones involving Substation, to determine why their injury list is so long in 2025.

Follow Fox News Digital Sports coverage on X and subscribe Fox News Sports Gathering Newsletter.