The San Francisco 49ers will be moving on from linebacker De’Vondre Campbell in the coming days. That decision comes on the heels of Campbell’s refusal to play on Thursday night against the Los Angeles Rams, which drew intense ire from his teammates.
“We’re working through the semantics of exactly how to deal with it,” head coach Kyle Shanahan said on Friday, via ESPN. “But I mean you guys heard from me last night, you guys heard from our players, his actions from the game, it’s not something you can do to your team or your teammates and still get to be a part of our team. We’re working through exactly the semantics of it right now, but we’ll handle the situation appropriately.”
It should come as little surprise that Campbell is not welcome back in the 49ers’ locker room. He committed the most taboo act in football by abandoning his teammates and that may haunt him elsewhere.
Retired two-time All-Pro and 2005 NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year, Shawne Merriman, believes Campbell has played his last snap ever.
“I think his reputation is done. I’d be shocked if another team decides to pick him up after the season because he now is going to be deemed unreliable,” Merriman told TMZ Sports.
Even if another team were to take a flier on Campbell — something that seems highly unlikely — he won’t be able to escape the “quitter” label.
“I’ve seen a lot of things, been around a lot of things, and I knew what was going to come from this when he refused to go back in the game. It’s one of these things that you build up your career, you do everything possible, and this one incident is what you’re going to be labeled as going forward, no matter what happens,” Merriman said.
“There’s no getting out of this. It’s a shame because that one second to make a decision kind of erases everything you’ve done in your career.”
Campbell has vanished from the public eye since leaving the field on Thursday night and has failed to address his teammates or fans. That’s the true shame — letting down the men who earned your trust and the children who looked up to you.
