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San Francisco 49ers linebacker De'Vondre Campbell Sr. walked off the field during the third quarter of his team's Thursday Night Football loss to the Los Angeles Rams because "he didn't want to play," head coach Kyle Shanahan told reporters during his postgame press conference.
“He said he didn’t want to play today,” Shanahan said.
“When someone says that, you move on. You don’t deal with that anymore,” Shanahan added. “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. I don’t think we need to talk about him anymore.”
Campbell, who was an All-Pro in 2021, didn't give Shanahan a specific reason why he didn't want to play, according to the coach.
Campbell served a reserve role during Thursday's (December 12) game amid the return of Dre Greenlaw, who appeared in his first game since suffering an Achilles injury during the Niners' Super Bowl LVIII loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in February. The linebacker started in 12 of San Francisco's first 13 games, but saw his playing time decreased in recent weeks, prior to failing to record a single stat in Thursday's loss.
Campbell's decision was also criticized by his teammates, including All-Pro tight end George Kittle and All-Pro cornerback Charvarius Ward.
“It’s just dumb. It’s just stupid. It’s very immature,” Kittle told reporters via the New York Post. “I just don’t see how you could do something like that to your team.”
“I mean he’s a professional and he’s been playing for a long time. If he didn’t want to play he shouldn’t have dressed out,” Ward said via CBS Sports Bay Area's Matt Lively. “He could have told them that before the game.”
“[He’s] probably going to get cut soon, so it is what it is with that,” Ward added.