Six months after the 49ers’ 2025 NFL season ended, the substation conversation refuses to die.
Mac Jones addressed the ongoing conspiracy theory surrounding the electrical substation adjacent to the team’s practice facility at Levi’s Stadium on the “Bussin With The Boys” podcast this week — and made clear that even he cannot fully escape the questions.
“That was my number one offseason topic,” Jones said. “Traveling, friends, family members — it’s like, ‘Oh, great year, but do you think the substation…?’ I got like 20 questions about it at the Super Bowl.”
The theory — which went viral late in the 2025 season — suggests that electromagnetic fields from the Northern Receiving Station, located just yards from the 49ers’ SAP Performance Facility, could be contributing to the franchise’s persistent injury problems. The 49ers lost Nick Bosa, George Kittle, Fred Warner and Mykel Williams to season-ending injuries in 2025, among others, fueling speculation that something more than bad luck was at play.
John Lynch hired an independent scientist to investigate and called the findings a “big nothing burger” at the NFL’s league meetings in March. Jones is inclined to agree — though he acknowledged the substation is about as close to the practice field as it could possibly be.
“I literally hit it with a football before,” Jones said with a laugh, referencing the team’s crossbar challenge drills. “But I don’t feel different. I don’t think it affects anything. John Lynch told me they really did look into it.”
Not everyone on the roster is fully convinced.
“I feel like there are a few guys on the team who are still really skeptical,” Jones added. “We have a lot of characters.”
Those characters may find fresh ammunition this offseason. Despite Lynch’s dismissal of the theory, the 49ers are quietly exploring a possible relocation of their practice facility away from Levi’s Stadium — a move that, regardless of the stated reason, will inevitably be read as an admission by those who never bought the “nothing burger” explanation in the first place.
The substation debate was supposed to be over. It is not.
Download and follow the 49ers Talk Podcast