San Francisco 49ers linebacker De’Vondre Campbell shocked the NFL world this week when he refused to participate in the team’s Thursday Night Football game.
Campbell, who lost his starting job to the returning Dre Greenlaw, who was coming back from the Achilles injury he suffered in the Super Bowl.
However, when Campbell was called upon by head coach Kyle Shanahan in the third quarter due to Greenlaw experiencing pain from the recovering injury, he declined.
Instead of going onto the field, Campbell left his team, refused to play and left the sideline to go back to the locker room.
After the game, Shanahan said the team was “working through the semantics” of how to deal with Campbell.
And now it’s been revealed that instead of cutting the player, the Niners are working with the league office to pursue the maximum punishment for Campbell, according to Jay Glazer.
De’Vondre Campbell (left) refused to participate in the San Francisco 49ers’ game on Thursday
49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan needed the defensive lineman to get in in the third quarter
The franchise is reportedly aiming for a ban for the rest of the season. The team reportedly believes that releasing Campbell and allowing him to join another team would be a “reward.”
Glazer also reported that general manager John Lynch confronted Campbell on the sideline after hearing the player refused to participate in the game. Lynch then reportedly sent Campbell to the locker room.
After the game, which the 49ers lost 12–6, several of Campbell’s teammates expressed anger and frustration that one of their own decided to withdraw from the game.
When asked if such a decision would create a disconnect in the locker room, Niners star George Kittle said Campbell’s actions were his own and the team would try to move past that.
“Not disbelief or disconnect as a team. That’s a guy who just decided not to play for his teammates,” Kittle told reporters after the game.
“That doesn’t make our offense look at each other like ‘wow man, we’re falling apart’ or the defense (say) ‘Hey, we’re falling apart.’
“It’s more of one person making, as cornerback Charvarius Ward said, a selfish decision. and I agree with (Ward). I’ve never been around anyone who’s ever done that, and I hope I’m never around anyone who does that again.”
Ward, who recently lost his young daughter, was the most outspoken in his criticism of Campbell, telling reporters in the locker room after the game.
Niners players Charvarius Ward (L) and George Kittle (R) expressed their disappointment
‘He is a professional and has been playing for a long time. I mean, if he didn’t want to play, he shouldn’t have undressed. You know, he could have told me that before the game. So I feel like what he did was a mess.”
“It definitely hurt the team because you know Dee (Winters) went down and we needed a linebacker, I think (linebacker Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles) was in trouble too.
‘So when he does that, I think it’s stupid stuff. I’ll probably be cut soon, so that’s what it’s all about.’
Meanwhile, defensive star and leader Fred Warner said, “I don’t want to say too much about it. I keep it in the house.”