SANTA CLARA, Calif. — The San Francisco 49ers suspended linebacker De’Vondre Campbell for the rest of the regular season after he refused to enter a game after losing his starting job.
General manager John Lynch announced the news on Monday that Campbell was suspended for three games for conduct detrimental to the team.
The news came four days after Campbell’s refusal to go into a game against the Los Angeles Rams was decried by coaches and teammates as a “selfish” act. Coach Kyle Shanahan said Friday that Campbell would no longer be part of the team, with the only question whether that would be by a suspension or an outright release.
The team opted for the suspension. The Collective Bargaining Agreement allows teams to suspend a player for up to four games without pay for conduct detrimental to the team and fine them one week’s pay.
“I just lost all respect,” cornerback Deommodore Lenoir said Monday. “I’m a person that’s going 110% every play. … I just feel like he’s a cancer to the team.”
Campbell makes about $67,000 in base salary each week under the one-year $5 million contract he signed in March. Campbell also will miss the chance to earn $60,000 in weekly roster bonuses and the Niners could try to recoup about $111,000 from Campbell’s signing bonus.
Had the 49ers waived Campbell, he would have had the opportunity to be claimed or sign with another team.
Campbell had started 12 of the first 13 games of the season and played 90% of defensive snaps for the 49ers but was benched Thursday night after Dre Greenlaw came back for his first game since tearing his left Achilles tendon in last season’s Super Bowl.
When the 49ers wanted to put Campbell in the game in the third quarter because Greenlaw was sidelined with soreness in his Achilles tendon, Campbell refused, something Shanahan said has never happened to him in his time as a head coach or an assistant in the NFL.
Defensive end Nick Bosa said he got a sense of Campbell’s frustration before the game but didn’t say anything at the time.
“In the locker room before the game, I heard some complaining,” Bosa said. “I was going to say something but didn’t because I didn’t want to create more of a distraction. But I kind of felt it. I kind of saw the foreshadowing. I definitely didn’t think it was going to result in that.”
Bosa said he doesn’t regret not trying to make it an issue before the game because “if he was going to do that then he’s not the type of guy to be here.”
Campbell walked off the field with a towel draped over his head and went into the locker room before the end of the game with the Rams which almost ended the 49ers’ playoff hopes. Shanahan said he didn’t send Campbell to the locker room and didn’t know why he left the field.
Campbell’s decision left his teammates angered and bewildered after the game and that hadn’t changed a few days later. But Bosa said he doesn’t see Campbell’s actions as a reflection of a team that has lost its way.
“This locker room is great,” he said. “It’s always been great. But sometimes when you bring somebody who’s older in from a different place, you don’t know. He was a good dude. It’s not like I didn’t like him. But there’s no issues in this locker room.”
The 31-year-old Campbell signed in the offseason with San Francisco after being cut by Green Bay in March. He had been an All-Pro in 2021 for the Packers but his play fell off the last two seasons in Green Bay.
That led to Campbell complaining on social media that he was misused by Green Bay. He expressed excitement about being with a new team but he never got back to his All-Pro level. Campbell had a few bright moments in San Francisco this season but struggled frequently with tackling and in coverage.