The San Francisco 49ers lost to the Los Angeles Rams, 12-6, on Dec. 12, but it’s what happened on the sidelines that has people talking.
Linebacker De’Vondre Campbell was summoned to replace an injured Dre Greenlaw in the third quarter of the game at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, but refused to go on the field and walked into the locker room.
“He said he didn’t want to play today,” 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan said in his press briefing after the game. He added that he never experienced a moment where a player said he didn’t want to play.
Greenlaw had been playing in his first game this season after hurting his Achilles tendon in the Super Bowl in February and appeared to get injured again, prompting the call for Campbell. Shanahan was also asked if the team plans to release him.
“We’ll figure out something, but I don’t know that right now,” he said before adding that Campbell did not provide a reason for why he wouldn’t go into the game.
Shanahan, who’s taken the 49ers to a pair of Super Bowl appearances, also said Campbell’s actions were hard to miss.
“People noticed, but when someone says that, you move on. You don’t deal with that anymore,” he said.
Campbell, 31, didn’t play any snaps prior to the incident. He is in his ninth season in the NFL after he was selected out of the University of Minnesota in the fourth round of the 2016 NFL draft by the Atlanta Falcons, where he spent the first four years of his career. He has also played with the Arizona Cardinals and Green Bay Packers.
He is in his first season with the 49ers, having started 12 games. His 79 tackles entering the Rams game is the second-most on the team this year.
Shanahan said he’s not worried about other players on the team losing their focus.
“That’s somebody who doesn’t want to play football,” he said. “That’s pretty simple. I think our team and myself, we know how we feel about that, so I don’t think we need to talk about him anymore.”
Campbell’s teammates were a little more blunt in their reactions.
“Look, if you’re on the roster and you suit up, you’re expected to play,” star tight end George Kittle said.
“I think anyone in this building that got asked to go in, I would say 100% of everybody would die to get on that football field. People are going through random things off the field, I can’t speak on that. Whatever his decision was, it wasn’t for this organization, it wasn’t for this team, and that’s on him. I’m not very happy about it.”
“It’s one person making a … selfish decision,” he added. “I’ve never been around anybody that’s ever done that, and I hope I’m never around anybody who does that again.”
Cornerback Charvarius Ward was also surprised by Campbell’s actions, especially in light of the fact other players were hurt.
“I mean, he’s a professional,” he 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. So I feel like there was some sucker s— that he did that definitely hurt the team, because Dee (Winters) went down and we needed a linebacker. … That’s some sucker stuff to me, in my opinion. Probably going to get cut soon, so it is what it is with that.”