George Kittle fuels 49ers injury conspiracy theory as he reveals what ‘messes with me’ about electrical substation

GEORGE KITTLE has fuelled a conspiracy that says an electrical substation near the San Francisco 49ers’ training camp is the root of their injury issues.

Tight-end Kittle suffered a season-ending Achilles injury against the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC Wild Card round last month.

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George Kittle has acknowledged a theory regarding the 49ers’ injury issuesCredit: Getty

The 49ers train by Levi’s Stadium, which is also adjacent to an electrical substationCredit: Getty

But that blow was just the latest in a series of concerning injuries plaguing the NFC West team.

The stream of fitness issues for 49ers stars has prompted some fans to draw a link between the crisis and the team’s training ground, which is adjacent to an electrical substation.

The theory claims that electromagnetic fields from the station could degrade connective tissue and weaken soft tissues for those in its proximity.

And now a new anecdote from Kittle, 32, has curious fans even more convinced that the station presents a danger.

Kittle told Complex News: “One thing that messes me up with it, this is tough, my rookie season there used to be trees in between the electrical substation and our practice facility.

“There’s a fence there too, and above the fence all the trees had no leaves on them, year round, all dead. Nobody notices it until you point it out to people.

“I didn’t point it out to Kyle Shanahan until like 2021. A vet pointed it out to me my rookie season and I was like ‘That’s kind of weird’. 

“‘But then this year the NFL came in and cut them all down, so they’re not there anymore so no one can see them. So it’s only us vets that know that was the truth. I don’t think anyone talked about that yet. That one messed me up.”

Kittle suffered a serious Achilles injury in JanuaryCredit: AP

He called for action and research into the theory, saying: “If something was affecting you negatively 0.25 per cent, you’d want to know about it. All we’re saying as players is that we’d like to look into it to make sure it’s not something.”

It is not surprising that the 49ers are looking for some kind of reason behind their injury woes after this past season.

Superstars Nick Bosa and Fred Warner were both lost to season ending injuries in the fall.

While quarterback Brock Purdy, and receiver pair Ricky Pearsall and Jauan Jennings all missed time during the regular season.

Suggestions that the substation could be behind the issues grew so strong that general manager John Lynch acknowledged that the team was looking into the matter last month.

He said: “Because [the theory] deals with allegedly the health and safety of our players, I think you have to look into everything.

“We’ve been reaching out to anyone and everyone to see, does a study exist other than a guy sticking an apparatus underneath the fence and coming up with a number that I have no idea what that means?

“Our ownership, Jed [York] is tremendous in terms of resources, and we’ll always be cognizant of things.

“I know that a lot of games have been won at this facility since it opened, but yeah, we aren’t going to turn a blind eye.”