49ers’ Fred Warner weighs in on electrical substation injury conspiracy

With Super Bowl LX set to be played at Levi's Stadium, renewed attention has been placed on the nearby electrical substation and its alleged connection to San Francisco 49ers injuries in recent seasons. While the theory remains unproven, the organization has acknowledged that it is reviewing the data.

49ers All-Pro linebacker Fred Warner addressed the speculation during a recent appearance on the St. Brown Podcast, hosted by Amon-Ra St. Brown and his brother Equanimeous St. Brown, a former teammate (briefly) of Warner's.

"There's a lot of mixed reviews about that," Warner said. "I think, at the end of the day, when you look at the actual data behind if that's real or not, I think it's false. And I'll be the first to tell you, because I train year-round at our facility. I'm not going to sit here and say that a substation was the reason why I got my ankle broken in half. That was a freak—that was a fluke injury, right?"

Warner added that he has largely avoided injuries throughout his career.

"But before that, I had missed one game," Warner said. "I had one game missed due to a fluke hammy that I had, where I stepped wrong. And I've been super healthy for seven-plus years."

Warner even joked, "The substation may have given me superpowers. I don't know. I guess if you just overdose on it, you get Hulk strength or something."

49ers general manager John Lynch recently confirmed the team has evaluated the speculation and plans to continue doing so.

"The health and safety of our players is of the utmost priority," Lynch said last week. "We pour into it. Our ownership, Jed [York], 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. We'll look into everything."

Warner acknowledged that the substation narrative has been "blown up" recently, but pointed to several other factors that may explain the team's injury history.

"We have had a bunch of injuries since I've been here," Warner said. "But a lot of it is because we have an older roster. We train harder than a lot of people in the NFL when it comes to how we practice and do all these other little things. It's just a combination of all that. And it's football at the end of the day. It's 100% injury guarantee rate."

Former 49ers linebacker Dre Greenlaw recently fueled additional injury speculation when he noted that the Denver Broncos run more intense practices than he experienced in Santa Clara. Despite that approach, Denver finished in the bottom 10 among the NFL's most-injured teams in 2025, while the 49ers ranked in the top four.

Amon-Ra St. Brown added that his Detroit Lions also deal with frequent injuries and asked Warner whether the 49ers fully tackle in practice. Warner revealed they do not, unlike Lions head coach Dan Campbell, who requires it.

"No, we would never do that," Warner said. "See, at some point, old Dan's going to come to his senses, and be like, listen, this ain't making nobody better, brother. We can still get our work in without bringing guys to the ground."