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.”
Kyle Shanahan revealed that De’Vondre Campbell didnt want to play in the 3rd quarter.
The TNF crew share their thoughts on the situation. pic.twitter.com/8lcK1tkGTT
— NFL on Prime Video (@NFLonPrime) December 13, 2024
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 address Campbell’s exit
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.”
Asked if the 49ers would release Campbell, Shanahan said, “We’ll figure out something.” https://t.co/vBc9xdr6an
— Matt Barrows (@mattbarrows) December 13, 2024
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.”
Here is the whole Mooney Ward exchange on De’Vondre Campbell refusing to go into the game tonight.
Mooney was brutally honest about a guy who appeared to quit on his team. #49ers | #FTTB pic.twitter.com/CT6zNcC4t1
— Matt Lively (@mattblively) December 13, 2024
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.
“…I hope I’m never around anyone who does that again” – #49ers George Kittle on De’Vondre Campbell’s walkout mid-game
Kittle also calls it a “selfish decision” pic.twitter.com/y24E2B5NNU
— Kevin Krueger (@kevinkruegs) December 13, 2024
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.
