{"id":730740,"date":"2026-02-05T08:18:28","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T08:18:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/730740\/"},"modified":"2026-02-05T08:18:28","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T08:18:28","slug":"ex-49ers-tight-end-delanie-walker-says-power-plant-is-non-issue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/730740\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-49ers tight end Delanie Walker says power plant is non-issue"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>SAN FRANCISCO \u2014 Niners fans trying to blame a power plant for the team\u2019s recent rash of injuries might need to find a new theory to explain their bad luck.<\/p>\n<p>Delanie Walker, a former tight end who played for San Francisco from 2006 to 2012, told The California Post on Wednesday a substation near the 49ers\u2019 training facilities in Santa Clara, Calif. is absolutely not the reason so many Niners over the last few years have been getting hurt.<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.2382104;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"38393302\" width=\"731\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/niners-general-manager-john-lynch-119457740.jpg\" alt=\"Satellite map showing Levi's Stadium, the San Francisco 49ers training facility, and an electrical substation.\" class=\"wp-image-38393302\"  \/>Fans have speculated a substation near the 49ers\u2019 practice facility has caused their recent rash of injuries. Google Maps<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat power plant has nothing to do with injuries,\u201d Walker said, matter-of-factly. \u201cIt can\u2019t have anything to do with injuries. If it had something to do with injuries, all the houses that are right across the street from it, people would have been suffering injuries.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s football, you\u2019re going to get hurt.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"38393305\" width=\"885\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/delanie-walker-46-san-francisco-120434903.jpg\" alt=\"Delanie Walker of the San Francisco 49ers runs with the ball during Super Bowl XLVII.\" class=\"wp-image-38393305\"  \/>Delanie Walker played several years for the 49ers to start his NFL career. Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>Walker \u2014 who appeared at Super Bowl LX Radio Row on behalf of Novartis to promote prostate cancer screening awareness \u2014 said he understood why fans have latched on to the theory, but he just doesn\u2019t see how it\u2019s possibly true.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI get it,\u201d he said. \u201cBut, to be honest with you, that\u2019s been there since the \u201980s.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey won multiple Super Bowls. I went to Super Bowls with the 49ers. We never had injuries like that.\u00a0I don\u2019t know why that is happening, but I do not believe the power plant is the reason why players are getting hurt.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Niners owner Jed York shared a similar sentiment on \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=OaK9K3_eb-g\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Up &amp; Adams<\/a>\u201d on Wednesday, when he told Kay Adams the power plant has \u201cbeen there since 1987.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJerry Rice was there. It didn\u2019t seem to affect Jerry Rice. It seems like Jerry Rice can still play today. I don\u2019t believe that that\u2019s something that is a real issue.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>York later added, \u201cI think we can debunk it.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN FRANCISCO \u2014 Niners fans trying to blame a power plant for the team\u2019s recent rash of injuries&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":730741,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2080],"tags":[220,1443,5119,7,6,1161,252,2624,2623,9],"class_list":["post-730740","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco-49ers","tag-49ers","tag-california","tag-delanie-walker","tag-football","tag-nfl","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-49ers","tag-sanfrancisco","tag-sanfrancisco49ers","tag-sports"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116017045263836497","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/730740","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=730740"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/730740\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/730741"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=730740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=730740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=730740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}