National Football League

49ers LB De'Vondre Campbell sparks outrage after refusing to enter game

Updated Dec. 13, 2024 1:51 p.m. ET

San Francisco linebacker De'Vondre Campbell refused to enter Thursday night's game in the third quarter after losing his starting job when Dre Greenlaw returned from an injury.

Campbell had started 12 of the first 13 games of the season and played 90% of defensive snaps for the 49ers but was benched for San Francisco's 12-6 loss to the Los Angeles Rams after Greenlaw came back for his first game since tearing his left Achilles tendon in last season's Super Bowl.

Greenlaw had eight tackles in the first half but left the game in the third quarter with soreness in his Achilles tendon. That's when Campbell refused to enter the game.

"He said he didn't want to play today," coach Kyle Shanahan said after the loss, which left the 49ers (6-8) on the brink of playoff elimination.

Shanahan said he has never seen that before in his coaching career and said the team will "figure out something" on how to deal with it going forward.

"I have never seen a more selfish act," Mark Schlereth said on Friday's edition of "Breakfast Ball." "Quitting on your teammates? Absolutely unacceptable. I've said it for weeks. I've said, 'Something smells fishy about the 49ers. There's something not right about the 49ers.' … The fact that you would walk out on your teammates because you feel sorry for yourself … that is unacceptable. Unbelievable that this happened.

"As far as I'm concerned, that guy is retired. I don't want him anywhere around my football team."

Cohost Danny Parkins added that it was absolutely "egregious" for Campbell to walk away from his team when guys like Charvarius Ward, Trent Williams and Ricky Pearsall have fought through so much to play this season.

"Charvarius Ward … this year, he lost his 1-year-old daughter," Parkins said. "Trent Williams is a first-ballot Hall of Famer whose wife delivered a stillborn child this year — and he is working to come back from injury. Ricky Pearsall was shot, and he has come back and played. I cannot even begin to fathom what those guys are thinking.

"It was so shocking given the obvious nature of it, but also because how does he look those guys who've overcome so much in the locker room [in the face]? How could you do it?"

Rams beat 49ers 12-6, De'Vondre Campbell 'quit' on his team | Breakfast Ball

Campbell also left his teammates bewildered and angry.

"He's a professional," Ward 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. I feel like that was some selfish (stuff) that he did. It definitely hurt the team. Dre went down and we needed a linebacker. ... For him to do that, that's some selfish (stuff) to me, in my opinion. He's probably gonna get cut soon."

The 31-year-old Campbell signed a one-year, $5 million deal in the offseason with San Francisco after being cut by Green Bay in March.

He was an All-Pro in 2021 for the Packers, but his play fell off the last two seasons in Green Bay. He had a few bright moments in San Francisco this season but struggled frequently with tackling and in coverage.

"It’s one person making a selfish decision," tight end George 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 Associated Press contributed to this report.

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