De'Vondre Campbell Refused to Play During the 49ers Rainy Loss to the Rams

The idea of getting paid to be on a roster in the NFL is that eventually, you'll take the field to do your job. Apparently, though, not all the players agree. De'Vondre Campbell is the latest player to refuse to play during an NFL game. After a number of 49ers linebackers were dealing with injuries during the team's loss to the Los Angeles Rams, De'Vondre was called on to enter the game and apparently declined to do so.

This call came during the third quarter, and during the fourth, De'Vondre went to the locker room with a towel over his head. Now, many want to know why he refused to play.

After the loss, coach Kyle Shanahan was asked about De'Vondre and why he had refused to enter the game. "He said he didn't want to play today," Kyle explained. Starting 49ers cornerbacks Dre Greenlaw and Dee Winters were both dealing with injuries, which was why De'Vondre was asked to enter the game. ESPN is reporting that De'Vondre's refusal to play left many on the 49ers furious.

"People noticed, but when someone says that, you move on," Kyle said. "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."

While we don't know any more about what De'Vondre chose not to play, the team instead inserted Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles, their only remaining healthy linebacker, into the game.

Following the team's loss, which basically guarantees that they will not be making the playoffs, some players declined to comment on De'Vondre's decision not to play, saying that they didn't have enough information. Others, including tight end George Kittle, felt confident that they knew enough to speak their minds.

"I'm a leader on the team, and if that is something that is being a distraction on the sideline, I would've loved to voice my own opinion in the moment," Kittle said.

"And we're past that moment," he continued. "So, it doesn't matter what I wish I could have said or wish I could have done, but I don't like distractions on the sideline. I think that's ignorant. 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. It's one person making a selfish decision. I've never been around anybody that's ever done that, and I hope I'm never around anybody who does that again."

De'Vondre was acquired from the Packers in the off-season in part because Dre Greenlaw was going to be out for much of the season with an injury. When Dre returned to the starting lineup this week, De'Vondre was bumped out, and was only asked to return after Dre was injured. It's possible that that explains his behavior, but it's also clear that many in his locker room don't think his refusal was justified.