De’Vondre Campbell’s behavior single-handedly made an already tough night for the San Francisco 49ers even worse.
In a rain-soaked stadium, the team went out on Thursday night, barely hanging on in the playoff race, and desperately needed a win against the Los Angeles Rams to stay afloat.
In the second half of a tight game, linebacker De’Vondre Campbell decided he would no longer play.
49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan told media after the game that the nine-year veteran, who had started 12 of 13 games this season before Thursday night, told the team he didn’t want to play and promptly left the field.
Campbell went to the locker room in the second half.
“He said he didn’t want to play today,” Shanahan said.
It seems the behavior of De’Vondre Campbell could’ve been predicted just based on his social media behavior.
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Campbell played football for the Minnesota Golden Gophers in 2013 and was having doubts about his future career.
He was digging how he looked and thought he should quit football altogether.
In 2013, resurfaced tweets show that De’Vondre Campbell was seriously thinking of quitting football to become an underwear model.
𝗧𝗥𝗘𝗡𝗗𝗜𝗡𝗚: Old tweets are resurfacing of #49ers LB De’Vondre Campbell saying he should quit football to become an underwear model.
— JPAFootball (@jasrifootball) December 13, 2024
“I need to quit Football and just be a model im handsome af dawg I shouldn't be beating my body up like this..” pic.twitter.com/Zxo38pjgij
George Kittle Rips De’Vondre Campbell For His Behavior
What has happened to the 49ers?
Less than a year ago, the San Francisco 49ers were on top of the world, preparing to play in Super Bowl LVIII against the Kansas City Chiefs.
The Chiefs are still great, while the Niners are looking like a shell of themselves.
Things only got worse on Thursday night when linebacker De’Vondre Campbell told coaches he “didn’t want to play today” and left for the locker room in the third quarter.
Campbell’s teammates also had a lot to say about his refusal to enter the game.
Tight end George Kittle said he doesn’t know how someone could do that to their teammates.
“I think that’s ignorant,” Kittle said of the situation. “And I think it’s just dumb. It’s just stupid, and it’s very immature. I just don’t see how you could do something like that to your team.”
