The San Francisco 49ers suspended linebacker De’Vondre Campbell three games for refusing to enter Thursday night’s game against the Los Angeles Rams, the team announced Monday.
General manager John Lynch, who announced the suspension in a statement, said the 49ers “will have no further comment on the matter.”
The suspension for conduct detrimental to the team likely will end Campbell’s season. The 49ers (6-8) are mathematically alive for the postseason but behind four other teams for the seventh and final NFC playoff spot.
Campbell’s decision not to play in the Niners’ 12-6 loss angered coach Kyle Shanahan and many of his teammates.
“It’s not something you can do to your team or your teammates and still get to be a part of our team,” Shanahan said Friday.
The team had the option of cutting Campbell, 31, which would have allowed him to go on waivers and potentially sign with a team to play out the rest of the season. But a suspension would possibly allow the Niners to recoup some of the $3.35 million signing bonus they gave Campbell when he signed a one-year, $5 million deal in March.
He landed the deal after another veteran linebacker, Eric Kendricks, agreed to sign with San Francisco before backing out to go to the Dallas Cowboys. Campbell was envisioned as a placeholder for Dre Greenlaw, the team’s starting weakside linebacker who was working his way back from a torn Achilles suffered in Super Bowl LVIII.
With Greenlaw still recovering for the first 13 weeks, Campbell started 12 games and played 90% of the defensive snaps with 79 tackles, including three for loss, and two passes defended.
Greenlaw’s return Thursday night offered an immediate spark for a Niners defense that held the Rams without a first down through the first quarter and just three points in the first half. But Greenlaw began dealing with some knee soreness in the third quarter, which is when the Niners asked Campbell to enter the game.
According to Shanahan, Campbell actually had been asked to enter the game in the second quarter when strongside linebacker Dee Winters departed with a neck injury. Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles had to step in for Winters after Campbell told the coaching staff he didn’t want to play. He headed into the locker room in the fourth quarter — a move that Shanahan said the linebacker made on his own.
Campbell will be an unrestricted free agent after the season.
ESPN’s Nick Wagoner contributed to this report.
Source: www.espn.com