Kyle Shanahan experienced a first as an NFL head coach in the 49ers' 12-6 loss to the Los Angeles Rams on Thursday at Levi's Stadium when one of his players declined to take the field.
Linebacker De'Vondre Campbell's role changed with the return of Dre Greenlaw this week, and when the latter exited the game in the third quarter with some soreness in his Achilles and knee, Campbell refused to play when Shanahan asked him to take Greenlaw's place and instead went to the locker room.
"He said he didn’t want to play today," Shanahan told reporters after the game, noting that had never happened to him before with a player. "... He was going to go in when Dre came out."
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Greenlaw returned for the must-win Week 15 game 10 months after tearing his Achilles in Super Bowl LVIII. The 49ers signed Campbell to a one-year contract in NFL free agency this offseason to help make up for Greenlaw's absence, and the former All-Pro linebacker was drafted by the Atlanta Falcons in 2016 when Shanahan was the team's offensive coordinator.
Shanahan didn't say whether the 49ers will release Campbell after his actions Thursday.
"We’ll figure out something, but I don’t know that right now," Shanahan said.
Campbell's teammates didn't mince words when asked about the linebacker's decision not to play.
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"I mean, he's a professional. He's been playing for a long time. If he didn't want to play, he shouldn't have dressed out," cornerback Charvarius Ward told reporters in the locker room. "He could have told [them] that before the game. So I feel like there was some sucker s--- that he did that definitely hurt the team, because Dee [Winters] went down and we needed a linebacker, and I think [Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles] was banged up, too.
"So for him to do that, that's some sucker stuff to me, in my opinion. Probably going to get cut soon. It is what it is with that."
Tight end George Kittle didn't hear about Campbell's departure until after the game, but said he wished he had known when the 49ers were still on the field.
"Look, if you're on the roster and you suit up, you're expected to play," Kittle told reporters. "I think anyone in this building that got asked to go in, I would say 100 percent of everybody would die to get on that football field. People are going through random things off the field, I can't speak on that. Whatever his decision was, it wasn't for this organization, for this team, and that's on him. I'm not very happy about it. ...
"Is that the reason we lost? Absolutely not, but it's hard to win football games when someone doesn't want to play football .. especially when you lose two linebackers and could have suited another one. ... I've never been around anyone that's ever done that, and I hope I'm never around anyone that does that again."
The peculiar situation comes as San Francisco dropped to 6-8 on the season, which has been nothing short of frustrating. But Shanahan is confident the locker room remains as tight as ever -- and supportive of its coach.
"I haven’t lost anybody," Shanahan said. "Somebody doesn’t want to play football, that’s pretty simple. [I] think our team and myself know how we feel about that, so I don’t think we need to talk about him anymore."