SANTA CLARA, Calif. — While no transfer has been made official but, San Francisco 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan made it clear Friday that linebacker De’Vondre Campbell has performed his final snap for the crew.
Campbell’s determination to not play in Thursday evening’s loss to the Los Angeles Rams angered Shanahan and plenty of of his teammates. After the sport, Shanahan and a number of gamers made it clear that Campbell’s actions had been unacceptable, with cornerback Charvarius Ward going as far as to say Campbell is “most likely going to get reduce quickly.”
As of Friday morning, the Niners had not decided precisely how they’ll half methods with Campbell, however Shanahan mentioned he did not anticipate Campbell to be on the crew in Week 16 and past.
“We’re working by way of the semantics of precisely the right way to take care of it,” Shanahan mentioned. “But I imply you guys heard from me final evening, you guys heard from our gamers, his actions from the sport, it is not one thing you are able to do to your crew or your teammates and nonetheless get to be part of our crew. We’re working by way of precisely the semantics of it proper now, however we’ll deal with the state of affairs appropriately.”
The most blatant transfer could be to outright launch Campbell, making him an unrestricted free agent and free to signal with one other crew instantly. There are, nevertheless, different choices the Niners can discover, resembling a suspension with out pay for conduct detrimental to the crew.
Campbell signed a one-year, $5 million contract with the Niners in March, which means he’ll once more be an unrestricted free agent after the season no matter what the 49ers resolve to do now. When Campbell signed, the Niners envisioned him as a placeholder for Dre Greenlaw, the crew’s beginning weakside linebacker who was working his method again from a torn Achilles suffered in Super Bowl LVIII.
A take care of Campbell was struck after one other veteran linebacker, Eric Kendricks, agreed to signal with San Francisco earlier than backing out to go to the Dallas Cowboys. With Greenlaw nonetheless recovering for the primary 13 weeks, Campbell began 12 video games and performed 90% of the defensive snaps with 79 tackles, together with three for loss, and two passes defended.
“We had been needing a beginning caliber linebacker to fill in for Dre till he might get again,” Shanahan mentioned. “We did not understand how lengthy that might be. I assumed he had some ups and downs all year long. I assumed he began off gradual. I assumed he acquired extra used to our protection and the way we anticipated individuals to play, and I assumed he improved all year long.”
Greenlaw’s return Thursday evening provided a right away spark for a Niners protection that held the Rams with no first down by way of the primary quarter and simply three factors within the first half. But Greenlaw started coping with some knee soreness within the third quarter, which is when the Niners requested Campbell to enter the sport.
According to Shanahan, Campbell truly had been requested to enter the sport within the second quarter when sturdy facet linebacker Dee Winters departed with a neck harm. Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles needed to step in for Winters after Campbell informed the teaching workers he did not wish to play.
Shanahan mentioned Friday it wasn’t till the third quarter that he circled again to Campbell and discovered for himself what was occurring. Shanahan mentioned Campbell was not by his teammates and was “distant from everybody” when he addressed him.
“I did not discover till the third quarter when Dre got here out and Dee went in after which I acquired on the defensive headset and requested what was happening,” Shanahan mentioned. “And then the coaches informed me after which I addressed De’Vondre and discovered. It was fairly easy to see how he was after which we moved on with our life after that.”
Shanahan added that he didn’t inform Campbell to go to the locker room within the fourth quarter, a stroll that was proven on the tv broadcast because it occurred. Shanahan added that he wasn’t certain what led to Campbell going to the locker room however “as soon as I discovered he wasn’t taking part in, I moved on to individuals who we might rely on.”
With Campbell on his method out, the Niners will probably want so as to add one other linebacker to the roster. Shanahan mentioned Friday that Greenlaw (knee soreness) and Winters (neck) can be day-to-day when the crew returns to apply subsequent week.
But assuming Greenlaw is ready to get well effectively, he’ll proceed to carry down his typical beginning spot. For his half, Greenlaw mentioned after the sport that he did not actually know what was happening with Campbell however did not appear too involved about it.
“He did not wish to play,” Greenlaw mentioned. “I assume if he did not wish to play, you ain’t gotta play. So, he did not wish to play.”
