49ers' De'Vondre Campbell walked off the sideline, refused to play vs. Rams
Campbell, who lost his starting linebacker job to Dre Greenlaw, quit during the game when asked to go in to replace Greenlaw.
49ers linebacker De'Vondre Campbell was active for Thursday night's game against the Rams but never got on the field. San Francisco coach Kyle Shanahan said after the game that was because Campbell quit on the team and refused to play.
Campbell was seen walking off the 49ers' sideline during the game, and when Shanahan was asked about it, he said that was Campbell's choice.
"He said he didn't want to play today," Shanahan said. "He did when I asked him why he didn't want to go in. That was in the third quarter."
Asked if that has ever happened to him before, Shanahan said, "No."
Campbell had been starting all season for the 49ers but was not in the starting lineup Thursday night because linebacker Dre Greenlaw returned from his Achilles injury. Shanahan said the plan was for Campbell to play in the game as Greenlaw's backup, but when Greenlaw went out, Campbell quit.
"He was gonna go in when Dre came out," Shanahan said.
Shanahan didn't answer definitively when asked if the 49ers will cut Campbell, but he seemed to be leaning in that direction.
"We'll figure out something but I don't know that right now," Shanahan said. "When someone says that, you move on. You don't deal with that anymore. . . . If somebody doesn't want to play football it's pretty simple. I think our team and myself, you know how we feel about that, so I don't think we need to talk about him anymore."