49ers’ De’Vondre Campbell refuses to play and leaves the TNF game in the third quarter

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49ers’ De’Vondre Campbell refuses to play and leaves the TNF game in the third quarter

After their 12-6 loss to the Los Angeles Rams, San Francisco 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan said that linebacker De’Vondre Campbell Sr. the team told him he didn’t want to play and he left the field in the third quarter of Thursday Night. Football” match.

“He said he didn’t want to play today,” Shanahan said after the game, noting the team wanted him to replace Dre Greenlaw when the linebacker left the game in the third quarter with some soreness. Greenlaw played for the first time since tearing his Achilles tendon in the Super Bowl and was expected to play a limited number of snaps. Greenlaw replaced Campbell in the starting lineup.

Several of Campbell’s teammates were unhappy with his decision.

“He is a professional, he has been playing for a long time. If he didn’t want to play, he shouldn’t have stripped,” cornerback Charvarius Ward said. ‘He could have told them that before the game. So I feel like that was a sucker punch – that he did. It definitely hurt the team because Dee (Winters) went down and we needed a linebacker. And I think (Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles) was confused too, so for him to do that, in my opinion, that’s stupid stuff. He will probably be circumcised soon.”

Greenlaw, who said his Achilles tendon felt fine after his season debut but felt some pain in his knee, seemed surprised by Campbell’s decision.

“He didn’t want to play, so I guess if you don’t want to play, you don’t have to play,” Greenlaw said. “He doesn’t want to play.”

Kyle Shanahan revealed that De’Vondre Campbell didn’t want to play in the third quarter.

The TNF crew shares their thoughts on the situation. pic.twitter.com/8lcK1tkGTT

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Tight end George Kittle did not know what happened to Campbell until after the game and was upset by the move.

“Look, if you’re on the roster and you fit in well, you’re expected to play,” Kittle said. “I think anyone in this building that was asked to go in, I would say 100 percent of anyone would die to step on that football field. And so, you know, people experience random things off the field. I can’t speak about that. Whatever his decision was, it wasn’t for this organization, it wasn’t for this team. And that’s up to him. I’m not very happy with it.

“I wish I would have heard about it on the field, but I didn’t. Is that the reason we lost? Absolutely not. But it’s hard to win football games if someone doesn’t want to play football, especially if you’re eligible.”

Shanahan said Campbell didn’t give him a reason why he didn’t want to play. When asked if the 49ers would release Campbell, Shanahan said, “We’ll figure something out. I don’t know that now.”

The eighth-year coach insisted Campbell’s departure from the team did not reflect any concern that he would lose the locker room.

“I haven’t lost anyone,” Shanahan said. “If someone doesn’t want to play football, it’s quite simple. I think our team and I know how we feel about that. I don’t think we need to talk about him anymore.”

Campbell signed with the 49ers this offseason after spending the past three seasons with the Green Bay Packers. He has totaled 79 tackles in 13 games (12 starts) this season.