LB De’Vondre Campbell ‘Didn’t Want to Play,’ According to 49ERS Coach Kyle Shanahan, and He Left

The San Francisco 49ers absolutely needed to defeat the Los Angeles Rams on Thursday night in order to stay in the playoffs, as they were just hanging on. Additionally, linebacker De’Vondre Campbell decided to retire during the second half of a close game. Campbell, a nine-year 49ers veteran who had started 12 of 13 games this season before Thursday night, told the team he didn’t want to participate, Niners head coach Kyle Shanahan told the media following the game, which the Rams won 12–6. During the second half, Campbell headed to the locker room. Shanahan said: “He said he didn’t want to play today,” “He did when I asked him why he didn’t want to go in,” “When someone says that, you move on. You don’t deal with that anymore,” “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. I don’t think we need to talk about him anymore.” Kyle Shanahan’s comments on De’Vondre Campbell not wanting to play: “That’s somebody who doesn’t want to play football. It’s pretty simple. I think our team and myself I know how we feel about that, so. I...