It’s no secret that things are going extremely poorly for the San Francisco 49ers this season, but that doesn’t excuse what happened on Thursday night. Linebacker De’Vonrdre Campbell essentially quit the game by refusing to enter in the third quarter, before walking off the field in the fourth.
This would be horrible in any situation, but especially on Thursday night. The Niners were desperately trying to keep their slim playoff hopes alive, and were in dire need of a win against the Rams. The largely defensive battle was a 3-3 tie when Campbell refused to go in, and it was absolutely a game the 49ers could have won.
The Rams beat the Niners, 12-6, effectively ending the Niners’ playoff hopes.
After the final whistle his teammates were furious. George Kittle (above) said he never wants to be around a player like that again, while Charvarius Ward went further — predicting the linebacker would be cut as a result.
When asked about the incident, head coach Kyle Shanahan made it abundantly clear that Campbell wouldn’t be a part of their future plans.
“People noticed, but when someone says that, you move on,” Shanahan said. “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, so we don’t need to talk about him anymore.”
A fourth round pick in the 2016 NFL Draft, Campbell has largely been effective for the bulk of his career. Starting with the Atlanta Falcons, Campbell then went to the Arizona Cardinals and Green Bay Packers before landing in San Francisco. He’s amassed 858 career tackles, including 9.5 sacks and 7 interceptions.
There’s been no explanation from the 31-year-old why he refused to enter the game, but this is likely the end of the road for his time on the Niners, and it underscores just how bad things have gotten for Shanahan and Co.
