National Football League

49ers reportedly set to suspend LB De'Vondre Campbell three games

Updated Dec. 16, 2024 11:42 a.m. ET

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The San Francisco 49ers are planning to suspend linebacker De'Vondre Campbell for the final three games of the 2024 regular season after he refused to enter the game in their 12-6 loss to the Los Angeles Rams on Thursday, NFL Media reported Monday. The 49ers were working with the NFL to determine the maximum punishment they could give Campbell so they didn't have to release him and see him play for another team, NFL on FOX insider Jay Glazer reported Sunday.

"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," 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan told reporters on Friday. "We're working through the semantics right now, but we'll handle the situation appropriately."

Campbell, who the 49ers signed to a one-year, $5 million deal over the offseason, had started 12 of the 49ers' first 13 games and played in over 90% of their defensive snaps. However, he was benched for Thursday's game as veteran linebacker Dre Greenlaw returned from an Achilles tendon injury that he suffered in the team's Super Bowl loss in February. 

It was initially shared that the 49ers wanted to put Campbell into the game during the third quarter as Greenlaw dealt with some soreness with his Achilles. However, the tense situation with Campbell developed prior to that.

"[The 49ers] started seeing about the second quarter that he was refusing to go in," Glazer said on "FOX NFL Sunday." "So, it was John Lynch that actually went down there in the [third] quarter and confronted De'Vondre. … It was Lynch who sent him to the locker room."

De'Vondre Campbell leaves the sidelines in 49ers' 12-6 loss vs. Rams

As Glazer mentioned, Campbell walked off the field with a towel draped over his head and went into the locker room before the game ended. 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," Shanahan said. 

Campbell's actions were widely criticized in the football world, and his own teammates even called him out. 

"He's a professional," 49ers 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."

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 Associated Press contributed to this report.

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