49ers teammates rip 'selfish' De'Vondre Campbell for refusing to play in TNF loss to Rams

Daniel Chavkin

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49ers teammates rip 'selfish' De'Vondre Campbell for refusing to play in TNF loss to Rams image

The 49ers suffered a tough loss on "Thursday Night Football," falling to the Rams, 12-6, and effectively killing their postseason chances.

San Francisco has had a frustrating season overall. And Thursday's game added a new layer with a bizarre situation courtesy of veteran linebacker De'Vondre Campbell.

San Francisco signed Campbell in the offseason to help replace Dre Greenlaw, who was set to miss the majority of the season while recovering from a torn Achilles. On Thursday, Greenlaw played in his first game of the 2024 season, sending Campbell to the bench.

When the 49ers asked Campbell to enter the game in the second half, the 31-year-old linebacker refused to enter. Instead, he chose to go back to the locker room.

The Sporting News examines Campbell's exit in San Francisco.

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De'Vondre Campbell refuses to play vs. Rams

During the third quarter of the 49ers' 12-6 loss to the Rams on Thursday, Campbell was asked to replace linebacker Greenlaw for a play. But Campbell refused to enter the game, instead choosing to go back to the locker room in the middle of the game.

It is unclear why Campbell refused to take the field in the second half, but the odd situation may have resulted from his benching in favor of Greenlaw in the latter's return from injury.

The Amazon Prime postgame show spoke about the situation with Campbell, with former players criticizing Campbell's decision. Richard Sherman and Tony Gonzalez agreeing that the 49ers have to release Campbell after he refused to play. 

"It's frustration, and you can kind of empathize with him to a degree, but you quit on your team," Sherman said. "You can't do that in the National Football League."

The panel also discussed other instances of players leaving mid-game, including Antonio Brown's infamous exit with the Buccaneers and Vontae Davis retiring mid-game with the Bills.

49ers react to De'Vondre Campbell quitting

After the game, 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan addressed what happened with Campbell.

"He said he didn't want to play today," Shanahan said. "We'll figure out something."

Shanahan added: "When someone says that, you move on. 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."

San Francisco cornerback Charvarius Ward acknowledged the likely truth of what's to come when asked about Campbell.

"For him to do that, that’s some selfish stuff to me in my opinion," Ward said. "He’s probably going to get cut soon."

49ers tight end George Kittle also addressed the situation in his postgame comments, calling it "selfish."

"I just don't see how you could do something like that to your team," Kittle said.

Head coach Kyle Shanahan told reporters on Friday that he doesn't expect Campbell to play for the 49ers again this season. It hasn't been determined if the team will suspend the linebacker or release him, but his tenure in San Francisco appears done. 

Jay Glazer reported that GM John Lynch was very upset with Campbell's actions. The Niners are working out a max suspension for the linebacker and want to avoid releasing him just so he can sign with another team, thus rewarding him.

De'Vondre Campbell stats

Entering Thursday, Campbell had played in all 13 games for San Francisco in 2014, starting 12 of them. He had played 90% of the defensive snaps for the team, totaling 79 tackles and three tackles for loss.

In his nine-year career with the Falcons, Packers and 49ers, Campbell has played in 128 games and produced at least 90 tackles six times.

Daniel Chavkin

Daniel Chavkin Photo

Daniel Chavkin is a Digital Content Producer for The Sporting News. A 2018 graduate from the University of Maryland, he has previously written for Sports Illustrated, NBC Sports and NFLTradeRumors.com.