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Nick Wagoner, ESPN Staff Writer
SANTA CLARA, Calif. — With injuries to their linebackers accumulating in the middle of the third quarter Thursday night against the Los Angeles Rams, the San Francisco 49ers turned to veteran De’Vondre Campbell to enter the game.
Campbell declined that invitation.
Then, in the fourth quarter, Campbell walked to the locker room with a towel over his head without playing a snap. After the Niners’ 12-6 defeat, head coach Kyle Shanahan explained that Campbell elected not to enter the game even though linebackers Dre Greenlaw (knee) and Dee Winters (neck) were dealing with injuries.
“He said he didn’t want to play today,” Shanahan said.
Campbell’s decision and subsequent stroll to the locker room left Shanahan, teammates and coaches fuming after the loss. Shanahan said the plan was for Campbell to enter the game after Greenlaw had departed because he was dealing with some knee soreness. It was also Greenlaw’s first game back from the Achilles injury he suffered in Super Bowl LVIII.
After Campbell said no, the Niners inserted Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles, the team’s only healthy linebacker left on the roster, into the game. After the third quarter expired, Campbell walked to the locker room.
“People noticed, but when someone says that you move on,” Shanahan said. “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, so we don’t need to talk about him anymore.”
When asked whether Campbell would be released, Shanahan said simply, “We’ll figure out something.”
In the aftermath of a dispiriting defeat that almost certainly ends San Francisco’s chances at a playoff berth, a few of Campbell’s teammates declined to speak on the situation because word was just making its way around the locker room about what happened. Linebacker Fred Warner and defensive end Nick Bosa said they didn’t know enough details to offer much of an opinion.
“It’s one person making a selfish decision. I’ve never been around anybody that’s ever done that, and I hope I’m never around anybody who does that again.”
Niners TE George Kittle
Others, such as tight end George Kittle and cornerback Charvarius Ward, had plenty to say. Kittle spoke to media for about 11 minutes, and with each passing minute he seemed to grow more irritated with what had occurred.
Kittle lamented that he wasn’t on the sideline when it all went down so that he could have intervened.
“I’m a leader on the team, and if that is something that is being a distraction on the sideline, I would’ve loved to voice my own opinion in the moment,” Kittle said. “And we’re past that moment. So, it doesn’t matter what I wish I could have said or wish I could have done, but I don’t like distractions on the sideline. I think that’s ignorant. And I think it’s just dumb. It’s just stupid, and it’s very immature. I just don’t see how you could do something like that to your team.”
Kittle added: “It’s one person making a selfish decision. I’ve never been around anybody that’s ever done that, and I hope I’m never around anybody who does that again.”
The Niners signed Campbell as an unrestricted free agent from the Green Bay Packers in March with the idea that he would be the placeholder at weak side linebacker until Greenlaw could return. That signing came after veteran linebacker Eric Kendricks agreed to a deal with the Niners then backed out last minute to sign with the Dallas Cowboys instead.
Campbell started 12 of the team’s first 13 games, with the lone exception being due to the Niners starting five down lineman and just one linebacker (Warner) before he entered. Coincidentally, that non-start also came against the Rams. In the team’s first 13 games, Campbell played 90% of San Francisco’s defensive snaps with 79 tackles, including three for loss, and a pair of passes defended.
But with Greenlaw back, the Niners started in the nickel package with Greenlaw and Warner as the two linebackers and Winters entering as the third option in base defense.
It wasn’t until injuries to the other linebackers that Campbell revealed he didn’t want to play, a decision that angered Ward, who played only weeks after the death of his 1-year-old daughter.
“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 s— that he did. It definitely hurt the team. Dee went down and we needed a linebacker. … So, for him to do that, that’s some selfish stuff to me, in my opinion. He’s probably going to get cut soon, so it is what it is with that.”