The San Francisco 49ers have lost several key players to injuries this season, but what happened on Thursday was a plot twist no one saw coming.
In a 12-6 loss to the Los Angeles Rams on “Thursday Night Football,” 49ers linebacker Dre Greenlaw made his return to the lineup following a 10-month absence after tearing his Achilles in the Super Bowl in mid-February.
With Greenlaw getting the start, his replacement De’Vondre Campbell was relegated to the sideline for the entire first half. But when Greenlaw needed a break in the third quarter, Campbell chose to thumb his nose at the team and head back to the locker room rather than accept his new role as a rotational backup.
49ers cornerback Charvarius Ward was one of the team’s leaders who called out Campbell for his actions, calling it “sucker stuff’ and saying he would probably get cut because of it.
George Kittle shared Ward’s sentiment, insinuating that Campbell probably should be released while putting him on blast for abandoning his teammates when they needed him.
“That is one person who just decided not to play for his teammates, and that doesn’t make our [defense] look at each other and be like, ‘Wow man, we’re falling apart,’” Kittle said. “It’s more of one person making a selfish decision like (Charvarius Ward) said, and I’m with [Ward] on that. I’ve never been around anybody that’s ever done that, and I hope I’m never around anybody that does that again.”
With Greenlaw working his way back from his injury, Campbell started 12 of the 13 games he played in this season, playing 90% of the team’s total defensive snaps (719) and logging 79 tackles, three tackles for loss, two passes defensed and one QB hit per Pro Football Reference.
But with Greenlaw healthy, Campbell wasn’t going to hold onto his starting spot. Greenlaw is a Pro Bowl-caliber player who’s totaled 120 or more tackles each of the last two seasons and is one of San Francisco’s top linebackers in coverage.
Despite signing a one-year, $5 million contract with the 49ers in the offseason, Campbell has likely played his last snap for the team.
