San Francisco linebacker De’Vondre Campbell refused to play in the third quarter of Thursday night’s game after losing his starting position when Dre Greenlaw returned from an injury.
Campbell had started 12 of the first 13 games of the season and played 90% of the defensive snaps for the 49ers. However, he was benched for San Francisco’s 12-6 loss to the Los Angeles Rams after Greenlaw came back for his first game since tearing his left Achilles tendon in last season’s Super Bowl.
Greenlaw made eight tackles in the first half but had to leave the game in the third quarter because of soreness in his Achilles tendon. That’s when Campbell refused to go in.
“He said he didn’t want to play today,” coach Kyle Shanahan said after the loss, which left the 49ers (6-8) almost out of playoff contention.
Shanahan mentioned that he had never seen this happen before in his coaching career and said the team would have to “figure out something” on how to handle the situation going forward.
Campbell then walked to the locker room, leaving his teammates confused and upset.
“He’s a professional,” cornerback Charvarius Ward said. “He’s been playing for a long time. If he didn’t want to play he shouldn’t have dressed out. He could have told them that before the game. I feel like that was some selfish (stuff) that he did. It definitely hurt the team. Dre went down and we needed a linebacker. … For him to do that, that’s some selfish (stuff) to me in my opinion. He’s probably going to get cut soon.”
The 31-year-old Campbell had signed a one-year, $5 million contract with San Francisco in the offseason after being released by Green Bay in March.
He had been an All-Pro in 2021 for the Packers, but his performance dropped in the last two seasons in Green Bay. He had a few strong plays in San Francisco this season but struggled often with tackling and coverage.
“It’s one person making a selfish decision,” tight end George Kittle said. “I’ve never been around anybody that’s ever done that and I hope I’m never around anybody who does that again.”
