The San Francisco 49ers are in the process of cutting ties with veteran linebacker De’Vondre Campbell after he refused to play against the Los Angeles Rams.
49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan said the team was ‘working through the semantics’ of how to handle Campbell. He added that refusing to play is ‘not something you can do to your team or teammates and still be a part of our team.’
Campbell did not play a snap against the Rams and when approached by Shanahan to go into the game, the defender refused and later walked off the field.
The 49ers are in the middle of disappointing season as the defending NFC champions at 6-8. They could be mathematically eliminated from the playoffs this weekend.
Thursday’s 12-6 loss to the Rams underscores just how far one of the NFL’s most talented teams from last season has fallen, with little offensive push-back against Los Angeles.
Campbell has been in the NFL since 2016 and is in his first season with the 49ers.
49ers linebacker De’Vondre Campbell refused to play against the Rams on Thursday night
Campbell is expected to be cut by the team shortly per 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan
With Campbell’s self-exile from the 49ers, his final NFL may be behind him as it would be a major question on his behavior from any future league team looking to sign him.
After the game, which the 49ers lost 12-6 a number of Campbell’s teammates expressed their anger and frustration with one of their own deciding to pull themselves out of the game.
When asked if a decision like that leads to disconnection in the locker room, Niners star tight end George Kittle said that Campbell’s actions were his own and the team would try to move past them.
‘Not disbelief or disconnection as a team. That is one person who just decided not to play for his teammates,’ Kittle told reporters after the game.
‘That doesn’t make our offense look at each other like “wow man, we’re falling apart” or the defense [saying] “hey we’re falling apart”.
‘It’s more of one person making, like [cornerback Charvarius Ward] said, a selfish decision. and I’m with [Ward] on that. I’ve never been around anybody that’s ever done that, and I hope I’m never around anyone that does that again.’
Ward, who recently lost his young daughter, was the most vocal in his criticism of Campbell, telling reporters in the locker room after the game, ‘He a professional, he been playing for a long time. I mean if he didn’t wanna play, he shouldn’t have dressed out. Y’know he could’ve told me that before the game. So I feel like that was some sucka s**t that he did.’
‘Definitely hurt the team cause you know Dee [Winters] went down and we needed a linebacker, I think [linebacker Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles] was banged up too.
‘So for him to do that, that’s some sucka stuff to me in my opinion. Probably gonna get cut soon, so it is what it is with that.’
