49ers’ linebacker De’Vondre Campbell won’t be part of team after refusing to play

SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — San Francisco coach Kyle Shanahan said linebacker De’Vondre Campbell won’t be part of the 49ers moving forward after he refused to enter a game after losing his starting job.

Shanahan said the team is still working through the options of how to deal with Campbell, who walked to the locker room in the middle of a 12-6 loss to the Los Angeles Rams on Thursday night when he refused to enter the game.

“His actions from the game are not something you can do to your team or teammates and still expect to be a part of our team,” Shanahan said Friday. “We’re working through the semantics right now, but we’ll handle the situation appropriately.”

Shanahan said Campbell won’t be part of the team for the final three weeks. Teams have the ability to suspend players up to four games without pay for conduct detrimental to the team, according to the Collective Bargaining Agreement. The Niners also could just waive Campbell outright, which would allow him potentially to be claimed or signed by another team.

Campbell signed a $5 million, one-year contract with San Francisco in March.

Campbell had started 12 of the first 13 games of the season and played 90% of defensive snaps for the 49ers but was benched Thursday night after Dre Greenlaw came back for his first game since tearing his left Achilles tendon in last season’s Super Bowl.

When the 49ers wanted to put Campbell in the game in the third quarter because Greenlaw was sidelined with soreness in his Achilles tendon, Campbell refused, something Shanahan said has never happened to him in his time as a head coach or an assistant in the NFL. Shanahan said Friday that he has not gotten any explanation from Campbell on why he didn’t play.

Campbell then walked off the field with a towel draped over his head and went into the locker room before the end of the game with the Rams that almost ended the 49ers’ playoff hopes. Shanahan said he didn’t send Campbell to the locker room and didn’t know why he left the field.

“Once I found out he wasn’t playing, I moved on to people we could count on,” he said.

Campbell’s decision left his teammates angered and bewildered.

“He’s a professional,” cornerback Charvarius Ward said after the game. “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 before the game. So I feel like that was selfish. It definitely hurt the team. Dre went down and we needed a linebacker. … For him to do that, that’s sucker (stuff) in my opinion. He’s probably going to get cut soon.”

Ward is one of several 49ers who has played through injury or personal tragedy during a trying season for San Francisco. Ward’s 1-year-old daughter died on Oct. 28 but he has returned and played the last three games for San Francisco.

Tight end George Kittle called Campbell’s actions “stupid” and “immature.”

“It’s one person making a selfish decision,” 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.”

The 31-year-old Campbell signed in the offseason with San Francisco after being cut by Green Bay in March. He had been an All-Pro in 2021 for the Packers but his play fell off the last two seasons in Green Bay.

That led to Campbell complaining on social media that he was misused by Green Bay. He expressed excitement about being with a new team but he never got back to his All-Pro level. Campbell had a few bright moments in San Francisco this season but struggled frequently with tackling and in coverage.