The San Francisco 49ers suspended a linebacker De’Vondre Campbell for the final three games of the 2024 regular season after refusing to enter the match in the 12-6 loss to Liverpool Los Angeles Rams on Thursday, the team announced Monday.
“We have suspended De’Vondre Campbell Sr. for three games for conduct detrimental to the team,” 49ers general manager John Lynch – wrote in the statement. “We will not comment further on this matter.”
The 49ers worked with the NFL to determine the maximum penalty they could give Campbell so they wouldn’t have to release him and watch him play for another team. As FOX insider Jay Glazer of the NFL reported on Sunday.
Campbell, whom the 49ers signed to a one-year, $5 million contract in the offseason, started 12 of the 49ers’ first 13 games and played in more than 90% of the defensive snaps. However, he was benched for Thursday’s game as an experienced linebacker Dre Greenlaw returned from an Achilles tendon injury suffered during the team’s Super Bowl loss in February.
Initially, reports circulated that the 49ers wanted to bring Campbell into the game in the third quarter as Greenlaw was dealing with Achilles pain. However, a tense situation with Campbell developed earlier.
“[The 49ers] “I started seeing around the second quarter that he was refusing to get on the field,” Glazer said on “FOX NFL Sunday.” [third] fifteen minutes and he came face to face with De’Vondre. … It was Lynch who sent him to the locker room.”
De’Vondre Campbell leaves the field after the 49ers’ 12-6 loss to the Rams
As Glazer recalled, Campbell left the field with a towel over his head and went to the locker room before the game ended. Shanahan said he did not send Campbell to the locker room and did not know why he left the field.
“When I found out he wasn’t playing, I turned to the people we could count on,” Shanahan said.
Campbell’s actions were widely criticized in the soccer world, with even teammates calling him names.
“He’s a professional,” 49ers linebacker Charvarius Branch he said after the match. “He has been playing for a long time. If he didn’t want to play, he shouldn’t have dressed up. He could have told them before the game. So I think it was selfish. This definitely hurt the team. Dre went down and we needed a defender… This is bullshit [stuff] In my opinion. He will probably be beheaded soon.”
Tight end George Kitty called Campbell’s actions “stupid” and “immature.”
“This is one person making a selfish decision,” Kittle said. “I have never met anyone who would do that, and I hope to never meet anyone who would do it again.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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