49ers

There has been a lot of commotion about the electrical substation next to the 49ers’ training facility being a culprit in the team’s rise in injuries throughout the season. Veteran TE George Kittle said their players would like to know for sure if there is any truth to the theory.  

“One of my teammates put it really good, Kyle Juszczyk, our fullback,” Kittle said. “And he said, ‘As a professional athlete, you’re always trying to get one percent better.’ Like, ‘Is this ice tub, is this rehab-recovery thing, is this red-light therapy, does it make me one-percent better?’ Because then you can stack all those up and you’re like, ‘Hey, you’re three-percent better than the next guy because you’re doing all this stuff.’ If something’s affecting like negatively 0.25 percent, you’d want to know about it. Like whether it’s this type of cleat is hurting me, this type of shoulder pads is, like, increas[ing] my risk to get hurt. You’d probably change that. So I think all we’re saying is, as players, it’s like, we would just like to look into it to make sure it’s not something. That’s what I would just appreciate. Like, ‘Hey, this isn’t gonna affect you guys.’ And then if they come out and they do some research, like, ‘No, you guys are good,’ then I don’t think we’ll think about it.”

Kittle points out that the trees that used to surround the substation were dead year-round and never produced leaves. 

“Now, one thing that messes me up with it — this is tough,” Kittle said. “My rookie season, there used to be trees in between the electrical substation and our practice facility, and there’s a fence there, too. And above the fence, all the trees had no leaves on them, year-round. . . . All dead. There’s a couple bunches of leaves every once in a while, and it was like that — no one notices it until you point it out to people. Like, I didn’t point it out to coach [Kyle] Shanahan until like 2021. Like, that was pointed out to me my rookie season, I was like, ‘That’s kind of weird, yeah. It is what it is.’ 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 that was the truth. I don’t think anyone’s talking about that yet, but that one messed me up. I was like, ‘Oh my goodness, there are no leaves on these trees. Why?”

Rams

• Should the Raiders look to trade Maxx Crosby, Albert Breer of SI writes that he’s not sure if the Rams make sense as a suitor, given that OLB Byron Young is entering the final year of his contract, while OLB Jared Verse will also be eligible for an extension next year. 

Seahawks

• Seahawks QB Sam Darnold‘s $2.5 million of salary officially became fully guaranteed on February 12th. (Over The Cap)
• Seahawks OL Abe Lucas‘s $6.16 million salary officially became fully guaranteed on February 12th. (Over The Cap)
• Seahawks P Michael Dickson‘s $2.7 million salary officially became fully guaranteed on February 12th. (Over The Cap)
• Seahawks WR Cooper Kupp had $9 million of his $12,990,000 base salary officially guaranteed on February 12th. (Over The Cap)
• Seahawks EDGE rusher DeMarcus Lawrence had $5 million of his $8,150,000 salary officially guaranteed. (Over The Cap)
• Darnold also had a $15 million roster bonus officially fully guaranteed. (Over The Cap)
• Seahawks DT Jarran Reed had $2 million of his $5,490,000 contract fully guaranteed on February 12th. (Over The Cap)
• Seahawks LB Ernest Jones had $5 million of his $7,900,000 salary fully guaranteed on February 12th. (Over The Cap)