While the whole electrical substation theory went into overdrive, given the injury woes the San Francisco 49ers suffered last season, coupled with the Super Bowl taking place at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, not everyone is sold that the substation will impact San Francisco's ability to land free agents even though that has been a fear.
Bay Area sports insider Tim Kawakami wrote the following about the substation in his most recent column:
"I don’t think it’s going to affect free agency one iota. If the 49ers are the top bidder and right fit, they’ll get the free agent."
Kawakami is probably right. Even if we live in a world where theories like this can spread quickly, thanks to viral posts and get believed even quicker despite no concrete evidence, ultimately money is going to speak louder than the hum of the substation when it comes to free agency.
Still, the Niners may have a perception issue with this whole thing. The cat is already out of the bag and is going to be nearly impossible to get it back in. Injuries in football are inevitable, and for as long as the 49ers remain in Santa Clara, there are going to be hackneyed jokes about the substation every time a player suffers an injury.
Maybe it won't be the driving factor for prospective free agents, but if the Niners have offered a player an identical contract to another team, and that player is more open to unorthodox scientific theories, then maybe that determines where they go.
Even 49ers players seem to be a little split on the issue.
Guys like tight end George Kittle and Kyle Juszczyk have said that the issue should be looked into even if its effects are fairly negligible, while Fred Warner has turned a more skeptical eye towards the whole debate.
The reality is that the 49ers probably want to just drive as much attention away from the issue as possible. Even conducting a study would just give the whole thing more oxygen, so from their point of view, ignoring it and hoping it goes away may be the best course of action.
That will be hard to do, given how much media attention the substation has already drawn. But it shows how the team is in a bit of a tough spot with this issue.
Kawakami is probably right that the substation will not be prospective free agents' biggest consideration, but we live in a strange world, so who knows?