San Francisco's De'Vondre Campbell will not play for the 49ers again.
Campbell, who signed with the 49ers on a one-year deal in March, reportedly refused to enter the game Thursday evening during the 49ers' 12-6 home loss to the Los Angeles Rams.
The decision to move on from the linebacker was announced by head coach Kyle Shanahan less than 24 hours after the contest. San Francisco was weighing the option of suspending or releasing Campbell, according to the NFL Network's Ian Rapoport, and ultimately decided on suspending him.
Campbell's decision resulted in a heated reaction from his teammates, and now, he s facing the consequences of his actions.
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What we know about Campbell not going into the game, status with the 49ers
In the third quarter of 49ers vs. Rams, San Francisco starting linebacker Dre Greenlaw left the game with an apparent sore knee. Greenlaw was leading his defense with eight total tackles at halftime.
When Campbell, one of several linebackers within the 49ers' rotation, was asked to go into the game, he apparently refused.
"He said he didn't want to play today," Shanahan told reporters after the game.
Several of Campbell's teammates had strong words for their teammate, including tight end George Kittle and cornerback Charvarius Ward.
"It's hard to win football games when someone doesn't want to play football," Kittle told reporters. "I think that’s ignorant. And I think it’s just dumb. It’s just stupid, and it’s very immature. I just don’t see how you could do something like that to your team.”
The 49ers, who have been decimated with injuries this season, could have used all the help they could get against the Rams. The game was tied at halftime and the 49ers took a 6-3 lead midway through the third quarter, but San Francisco was unable to keep the Rams off the board in the fourth quarter — Los Angeles kicker Joshua Karty hit three field goals to give his team a 12-6 victory.
"That's some sucka s—, it definitely hurt the team," Ward said of Campbell not entering the game. "He's probably going to get cut soon."
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"We're working through the semantics of exactly how to deal with it," Shanahan added. "But you guys heard from me last night, you guys heard from our players. His actions from the game is just not something you can do to your team or your teammates and still expect to be a part of our team. So we're working through exactly the semantics of it right now, but we'll handle the situation appropriately."
During the game, Amazon Prime cameras followed Campbell going into the locker room in the third quarter.
Kyle Shanahan revealed that De'Vondre Campbell didnt want to play in the 3rd quarter.
— NFL on Prime Video (@NFLonPrime) December 13, 2024
The TNF crew share their thoughts on the situation. pic.twitter.com/8lcK1tkGTT
"When someone says that, you move on," Shanahan said. "You don't deal with that anymore. That's somebody who doesn't want to play football, that's pretty simple. I think our team and myself, we know how we feel about that. I don't think we need to talk about him anymore."
Jay Glazer reported that GM John Lynch was very upset with Campbell's actions. The Niners have since worked out a max suspension for the linebacker, with the purpose of keeping him on the roster to avoid releasing him just so he can sign with another team, thus rewarding him.
#49ers GM John Lynch, usually calm and composed, confronted LB De’Vondre Campbell after learning he refused to enter the game on Thursday night and let him know about it
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) December 15, 2024
The 49ers are working with the league office to pursue a max suspension for Campbell. They don’t want to… https://t.co/g8FU9Z6E20 pic.twitter.com/dlqXTby65l
Campbell made over 12 starts this season and accounted for 79 total tackles.
