SANTA CLARA, Calif. — The San Francisco 49ers suspended De’Vondre Campbell for their final three regular-season games Monday after the linebacker refused to play and then walked out of Thursday night’s loss to the Los Angeles Rams.
The suspension for conduct detrimental to the team technically means Campbell is still a member of the organization through the end of the season, but any sign of that being the case is already absent from the Niners’ locker room. On Monday afternoon, Campbell’s locker was empty, and his nameplate was removed.
Earlier in the day, 49ers general manager John Lynch announced Campbell’s suspension, which takes him through the rest of this season and effectively ends his time with the team unless 6-8 San Francisco sneaks into the playoffs, something that would require a lot of help.
“We have suspended De’Vondre Campbell Sr. for three games due to conduct detrimental to the team,” Lynch said in the statement. “We will have no further comment on the matter.”
But, after the 49ers held a short “bonus” practice Monday, multiple players offered some further insight into Campbell’s decision and how everything went down Thursday night.
“For that to happen and him to do that, I just lost all respect. I’m a person that’s going 110% every play. If I am hurt and the guy behind me is not backing me up and can’t come in or don’t want to go in, I just feel like he’s a cancer to the team.”
Deommodore Lenoir, on De’Vondre Campbell
Defensive end Nick Bosa, who was playing in his first game in about a month after returning from a left hip and oblique injury, said signs of Campbell’s discontent were evident before the Niners and Rams kicked off.
Bosa said he “heard some complaining” from Campbell before the game. He considered stepping in and saying something but elected not to because he “didn’t want to create more of a distraction.”
Still, Bosa said he didn’t expect that Campbell would choose not to play in a game for which he was in uniform or walk to the locker room in the fourth quarter.
“I kind of saw the foreshadowing and I definitely didn’t think it was going to result in that,” Bosa said. “If he was going to do that then he’s not the type of guy to be here.”
Though Campbell has not publicly commented on why he chose not to play, Thursday was the first time this season that linebacker Dre Greenlaw was back on the field. Greenlaw reclaimed his starting weak-side linebacker job, the spot that Campbell filled until Greenlaw returned from the torn left Achilles he suffered in Super Bowl LVIII.
Second-year linebacker Dee Winters also had appeared to surpass Campbell on the depth chart, entering as the third linebacker when the 49ers were in base defense against the Rams. Niners coach Kyle Shanahan said last week that Campbell initially had been asked to enter the game in the second quarter when Winters suffered a neck injury.
Campbell told the Niners’ coaching staff then that he wasn’t going in, which led to Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles replacing Winters. When Greenlaw departed in the third quarter with soreness in his knee, Shanahan said he asked Campbell to go in and was told that he did not want to play. By the fourth quarter, Campbell had a towel on his head and walked to the locker room at Lynch’s behest.
Despite the pregame warning signs, Bosa and cornerback Deommodore Lenoir each said they didn’t see any signs of a potential outburst coming before Thursday. Lenoir, who has a locker near Campbell’s former space, said he “never in a million years” thought Campbell would “quit” on the team.
“For that to happen and him to do that, I just lost all respect,” Lenoir said. “I’m a person that’s going 110% every play. If I am hurt and the guy behind me is not backing me up and can’t come in or don’t want to go in, I just feel like he’s a cancer to the team.”
The 49ers signed Campbell to a one-year, $5 million deal in March. He started 12 of the first 13 games in Greenlaw’s stead and posted 79 tackles, three for loss and two passes defended while playing about 90% of the defensive snaps.
Campbell’s suspension means he will not be compensated for the final three weeks and raises the possibility the team could seek to recoup some of his $3.35 million signing bonus. If the 49ers somehow reach the playoffs, they would then have to decide what to do with Campbell. It’s more likely San Francisco misses the playoffs and he again will become an unrestricted free agent in March, when future employment might be difficult to come by, according to Bosa.
“It’s the NFL in general,” Bosa said. “I’m sure he’s going to have a hard time finding somewhere else to go when you act like that.”
