De'Vondre Campbell infamously refused to enter the San Francisco 49ers' Week 15 game last season and that mistake may be costing him his future in the NFL.
The 2024 season veered off the rails for the San Francisco 49ers. They dealt with a number of injuries and lacked the same punch on both sides of the ball that made them a dominant power in the NFC in years prior.
Fans could point to a number of moments during the season that signaled this downfall, whether that be the Christian McCaffrey injury recovery struggles or the team's back-to-back midseason blowout losses to the Green Bay Packers and the Buffalo Bills.
However, one incident later on in the year stood out in a more apparent way. The team's fate was already written at that point, but former Niners linebacker De'Vondre Campbell left a stain on the season.
Campbell refused to enter the team's Week 15 game against the Los Angeles Rams led to the team parting ways with him. Since that incident, Campbell remains unsigned and has no buzz around any future destination.
"People noticed, but when someone says that, you move on," Shanahan said after that game. "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, so we don't need to talk about him anymore."
The Niners wanted no part of him following that decision and that has had a clear residual effect across the league. San Francisco let a number of starters from the defense walk in free agency, so their roster shift not only ridded themselves of toxic players, but they have also gotten younger.
While the team just extended George Kittle and may do the same with Brock Purdy, the overarching goal for this franchise has centered on developing new talent and cutting costs.
Regardless of those two objectives, they will not be putting up with distractions like that in the matter involving Campbell.
