Coming into this offseason, there was some chatter about whether the viral theory that the San Francisco 49ers suffer more injuries than other NFL teams due to an electrical substation near Levi's Stadium wold impact the team's ability to land free agents.
Clearly, that has not been the case.
The Niners landed wide receiver Mike Evans, a future Hall of Famer who actually turned down more money from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to come to the Bay Area.
That right there pretty much debunks the notion the substation talk would have any bearing on whether the 49ers would be impacted at all in the players they were able to get.
Of course, the substation talk is probably never going to go away fully. Every time there is an injury, there are going to be those who bring up the substation even if the injury occurs thousands on miles away from Levi's Stadium and even though players like Fred Warner have said they do not buy into the theory.
Even after Evans signed with San Francisco, people on social media joked about what the substation is planning to do to his aging body.
Jokes aside, the reality is the 49ers probably are going to have a lot of injuries next season. They are a team with an aging veteran core of players, and they are going to play games in Mexico and Australia next season. Do not be at all shocked if the roster is banged up quite a bit having to deal with all of those factors.
But respected players like Evans are clearly willing to overlook odd theories in order to play for head coach Kyle Shanahan and with quarterback Brock Purdy. That speaks volumes to the organization that has been built in San Francisco, especially since a decade ago, the 49ers were something of a laughingstock, cycling through coaches and playing terribly.
49ers CEO Jed York was one of the most adamant voices discounting the substation theory ahead of the Super Bowl at Levi's Stadium. He has to be the most pleased that San Francisco landed a player like Evans, which will quiet all of the substation noise.
The jokes will never fully go away, but anyone who seriously thinks the substation theory will scare away prospective free agents from joining the 49ers has had to eat crow as a result of this offseason so far.