The 49ers can play the petty game, too.
San Francisco is expected to suspend De'Vondre Campbell for refusing to play against the Los Angeles Rams on "Thursday Night Football" rather than release him in order to redeem some of his signing bonus money and prevent him from signing with another team, NFL Media's Ian Rapoport reported Sunday morning.
"Make no mistake: De'Vondre Campbell's tenure with the 49ers is very much over," Rapoport said on "NFL Game Day." "Kyle Shanahan made that abundantly clear after the game and the day later. My understanding on how this happens, and it has not happened officially yet, is the 49ers are likely to suspend Campbell rather than just release him. That is the expectation.
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"Couple reasons for that: one, it prevents him from going on waivers, getting claimed and signing with another team [and] playing out the rest of the season. Also, it will potentially allow them to claw back some of his $3.35 million signing bonus."
From @NFLGameDay: De'Vondre Campbell's tenure with the #49ers is over. And the team is likely to suspend him to make it official. pic.twitter.com/d9HqcLgyuZ
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) December 15, 2024
Chess, not checkers.
Campbell walked off the 49ers' sideline in the third quarter of San Francisco's 12-6 loss to the Los Angeles Rams on Thursday night at Levi's Stadium, leaving his team high and dry in a game they needed to win.
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When asked about it after the game, Shanahan simply said Campbell “didn’t want to play today.”
But while speaking to the media via conference call the next morning, Shanahan made it perfectly clear that the 49ers were moving forward without Campbell.
“We’re working through the semantics of exactly how to deal with it,” Shanahan said. “But you guys heard from me last night. You guys heard from our players. His actions from the game is not something you can do to your team or your teammates and still be a part of our team.”
Campbell, 31, is a nine-year veteran who has started 122 regular-season games in his career. He was a first-team All-Pro with the Green Bay Packers in 2021.
However, that very well could have been his final NFL game.