Making sense of yet another 49ers rash of injuries, with Nick Bosa the latest victim

The 49ers ' Week 1 victory over the Rams was a demonstration of just how potent a healthy version of their team can be. Everything since has been a painful reminder that they apparently can't have nice things before they break.

The latest bad injury news arrived Friday with Nick Bosa 's calf, which apparently will keep him out multiple weeks . The star pass rusher suffered a torn ACL a year ago and was limited to three games in 2025. In the first two games of the season, he'd been limited to 60 total snaps.

This has left their defensive line in bad shape beyond Bosa. Alfred Collins is out for the season. Mykel Williams is on the PUP list and can't play until at least Week 5. C.J. West and Sam Okuayinonu currently reside on injured reserve. Oh, and don't forget James Thompson Jr., who's out multiple weeks, and rookie Romello Height, who just had hand surgery.

Wide receiver also has been decimated. Ricky Pearsall , De'Zhaun Stribling and Christian Kirk are all on IR as well. The team is also navigating injuries to Mike Evans (hip) and Demarcus Robinson (ankle).

There are other notable injuries elsewhere, with TE Jake Tonges , LB Nick Martin and OT Austen Pleasants all on IR as well. On and on it goes.

And get this: ESPN's Adam Schefter just floated the idea that the Niners might not place Bosa on IR because they're worried about running out of return designations — each team only gets eight for the regular season.

Yeah, that's how bad things are. And it's Week 3.

The 49ers are 2-0, with three of the next four games at home. Then they'll play on the road at Seattle and at Atlanta in Weeks 5 and 7, respectively, prior to the Week 8 bye. Most teams like a well-placed bye, and many playoff contenders wouldn't mind one on the back half of the schedule as a way of resting players for the postseason grind.

But the 49ers might have preferred an even earlier bye, given that their health crisis has once again reared its ugly head.

What to make of another ridiculous rash of 49ers ailments

The Niners' annual injury woes are not a new story . It has even set off one of the wilder conspiracy theories in the NFL: that a nearby power substation is to blame. The fact that the substation was expanded in 2014 — right about when the Niners' annual injury overload began — and that so many of their injuries have occurred in practice, has only fueled the hilariously sad conspiracy madness.

Beyond the gallows humor, there's a bigger question: Why? And can you give a response that doesn't include "substation" in the answer?

Kyle Shanahan has typically favored a veteran roster, and this year's Opening Day group was the league's oldest at 27.49 years. It also featured a league-high 14 players over the age of 30. Older players tend to get hurt more often than younger ones.

That might explain some of the issues they've faced, but the 49ers haven't always had the league's oldest roster before. When Shanahan took over in 2017, they were one of the younger teams, and the older-roster trend has really only kicked up over the past five seasons or so.

But the one season, in 2023, they went relatively unscathed — at least compared to the carnage they've suffered for the remainder of the decade — they went to the Super Bowl. Dumb luck or some deeper pattern? It's very hard to say.

Shanahan also has been known as a coach who favors faster and more intense practices , perhaps more so than other teams do. Players who have played for Shanahan and other head coaches have pointed out that discrepancy . That might have something to do with the matter.

Shanahan's Thursday padded practices also appear to be more intense than how other teams typically handle those sessions. Bosa is a good example of this, but most of the remainder of the 49ers' injuries this season did not happen on Thursdays, so that theory might not be complete.

Others have speculated that because the 49ers practice and play on natural grass, they're more prone to injuries on turf fields. That theory caught some fire after the 49ers' bloodbath at MetLife Stadium in New York after a rash of injuries they suffered there (including Bosa) in the 2020 season, playing there two straight games. The theory was even revived when Williams suffered his torn ACL there.

But the problem is, the current 49ers haven't played at MetLife this season and their first two games were on natural grass. Some of the injuries have happened on grass at their Santa Clara practice fields. So that can't explain it fully either.

It might just be a fluky set of circumstances, or perhaps there are multiple factors — including some mentioned above — that have crippled this team more than others.