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San Francisco 49ers will reportedly suspend linebacker De'Vondre Campbell, rather than cut him, after he refused to re-enter the team's Thursday Night Football loss to the Los Angeles Rams, NFL Network's Ian Rapoport reported on Sunday (December 15).
Niners head coach Kyle Shanahan told reporters that Campbell "said he didn't want to play today" during his postgame press conference, hinting that the team planned to move on from the linebacker, though Rapoport said a suspension wound benefit the team financially compared to outright releasing him.
“Make no mistake, De’Vondre Campbell’s tenure with the 49ers is very much over. Kyle Shanahan, the head coach, made that abundantly clear after the game and then the day later,” Rapoport said while appearing on NFL Network's live broadcast Sunday morning. “So my understanding of how this happens, and it has not happened officially yet, the 49ers are likely to suspend Campbell, rather than just release him. That is the expectation.
“A couple of reasons for that. One, it prevents him from just going on waivers, getting claimed and signing with another team and playing out the rest of the season. Also, it potentially would allow them to claw back some of his $3.35 million signing bonus.”
Campbell, 31, walked off the field during the third quarter of Thursday's (December 12) game. The former All-Pro didn't give Shanahan a specific reason why he didn't want to play, according to the coach.
“When someone says that, you move on. You don’t deal with that anymore,” Shanahan said during his postgame press conference. “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.”
Campbell served a reserve role during Thursday's (December 12) game amid the return of Dre Greenlaw, who appeared in his first game since suffering an Achilles injury during the Niners' Super Bowl LVIII loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in February. The linebacker started in 12 of San Francisco's first 13 games, but saw his playing time decreased in recent weeks, prior to failing to record a single stat in Thursday's loss.
Campbell's decision was also criticized by his teammates, including All-Pro tight end George Kittle and All-Pro cornerback Charvarius Ward.
“It’s just dumb. It’s just stupid. It’s very immature,” Kittle told reporters via the New York Post. “I just don’t see how you could do something like that to your team.”
“I mean he’s a professional and he’s been playing for a long time. If he didn’t want to play he shouldn’t have dressed out,” Ward said via CBS Sports Bay Area's Matt Lively. “He could have told them that before the game.”
“[He’s] probably going to get cut soon, so it is what it is with that,” Ward added.