LB De’Vondre Campbell ‘Didn’t Want to Play,’ According to 49ERS Coach Kyle Shanahan, and He Left

The San Francisco 49ers absolutely needed to defeat the Los Angeles Rams on Thursday night in order to stay in the playoffs, as they were just hanging on. Additionally, linebacker De’Vondre Campbell decided to retire during the second half of a close game.

Campbell, a nine-year 49ers veteran who had started 12 of 13 games this season before Thursday night, told the team he didn’t want to participate, Niners head coach Kyle Shanahan told the media following the game, which the Rams won 12–6. During the second half, Campbell headed to the locker room.

Shanahan said: “He said he didn’t want to play today,” “He did when I asked him why he didn’t want to go in,” “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.”

Kyle Shanahan’s comments on De’Vondre Campbell not wanting to play:

“That’s somebody who doesn’t want to play football. It’s pretty simple. I think our team and myself I know how we feel about that, so. I don’t think we need to talk about him anymore.” pic.twitter.com/bS8FhQAqWU

— 95.7 The Game (@957thegame) December 13, 2024

De’Vondre Campbell incident reeks of other such NFL incidents

Despite playing 64.1% of the 49ers’ defensive snaps last week, Campbell’s playing time had been reduced for the previous three weeks. Dre Greenlaw returned to the 49ers on Thursday night after suffering an Achilles injury when sprinting onto the field from the sidelines during the previous season’s Super Bowl. Greenlaw had an outstanding first half after starting. After Greenlaw missed a few snaps in the second half, the 49ers likely asked Campbell, who had been demoted to reserve duty with Greenlaw back, to enter the game. According to Shanahan, he declined.

The Vontae Davis tale comes to mind. At halftime of a 2018 game, Davis, a seasoned cornerback for the Buffalo Bills, announced his retirement and walked off. It also reminds me of the time Antonio Brown ran shirtless to the locker room during a Tampa Bay Buccaneers game. Brown didn’t play in the NFL ever again.

Campbell, who had played for the 49ers full-time for the majority of the season, entered the game with 79 tackles. He probably won’t be with the 49ers for the remainder of the season after Thursday night. According to Matt Barrows of The Athletic, Niners CB Charvarius Ward expressed his opinion that Campbell did not manage the issue effectively.

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