NINERS LOOKING FOR BEST WAY TO PART WITH DE'VONDRE CAMPBELL

SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- While no move has been made official yet, San Francisco 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan made it clear Friday that linebacker De'Vondre Campbell has played his last snap for the team.

Campbell's decision to not play in Thursday night's loss to the Los Angeles Rams angered Shanahan and many of his teammates. After the game, Shanahan and multiple players made it clear that Campbell's actions were unacceptable, with cornerback Charvarius Ward going so far as to say Campbell is "probably going to get cut soon."

As of Friday morning, the Niners had not determined exactly how they will part ways with Campbell, but Shanahan said he didn't expect Campbell to be on the team in Week 16 and beyond.

"We're working through the semantics of exactly how to deal with it," Shanahan said. "But I mean you guys heard from me last night, you guys heard from our players, his actions from the game, it's not something you can do to your team or your teammates and still get to be a part of our team. We're working through exactly the semantics of it right now, but we'll handle the situation appropriately."

The most obvious move would be to outright release Campbell, making him an unrestricted free agent and free to sign with another team immediately. There are, however, other options the Niners can explore, such as a suspension without pay for conduct detrimental to the team.

Campbell signed a one-year, $5 million contract with the Niners in March, meaning he will again be an unrestricted free agent after the season regardless of what the 49ers decide to do now. When Campbell signed, the Niners envisioned him as a placeholder for Dre Greenlaw, the team's starting weakside linebacker who was working his way back from a torn Achilles suffered in Super Bowl LVIII.

A deal with Campbell was struck after another veteran linebacker, Eric Kendricks, agreed to sign with San Francisco before backing out to go to the Dallas Cowboys. With Greenlaw still recovering for the first 13 weeks, Campbell started 12 games and played 90% of the defensive snaps with 79 tackles, including three for loss, and two passes defended.

"We were needing a starting caliber linebacker to fill in for Dre until he could get back," Shanahan said. "We didn't know how long that would be. I thought he had some ups and downs throughout the year. I thought he started off slow. I thought he got more used to our defense and how we expected people to play, and I thought he improved throughout the year."

Greenlaw's return Thursday night offered an immediate spark for a Niners defense that held the Rams without a first down through the first quarter and just three points in the first half. But Greenlaw began dealing with some knee soreness in the third quarter, which is when the Niners asked Campbell to enter the game.

According to Shanahan, Campbell actually had been asked to enter the game in the second quarter when strong side linebacker Dee Winters departed with a neck injury. Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles had to step in for Winters after Campbell told the coaching staff he didn't want to play.

Shanahan said Friday it wasn't until the third quarter that he circled back to Campbell and found out for himself what was happening. Shanahan said Campbell was not by his teammates and was "distant from everyone" when he addressed him.

"I didn't notice until the third quarter when Dre came out and Dee went in and then I got on the defensive headset and asked what was going on," Shanahan said. "And then the coaches told me and then I addressed De'Vondre and found out. It was pretty simple to see how he was and then we moved on with our life after that."

Shanahan added that he did not tell Campbell to go to the locker room in the fourth quarter, a walk that was shown on the television broadcast as it happened. Shanahan added that he wasn't sure what led to Campbell going to the locker room but "once I found out he wasn't playing, I moved on to people who we could count on."

With Campbell on his way out, the Niners will likely need to add another linebacker to the roster. Shanahan said Friday that Greenlaw (knee soreness) and Winters (neck) will be day-to-day when the team returns to practice next week.

But assuming Greenlaw is able to recover well, he will continue to hold down his usual starting spot. For his part, Greenlaw said after the game that he didn't really know what was going on with Campbell but didn't seem too concerned about it.

"He didn't want to play," Greenlaw said. "I guess if he didn't want to play, you ain't gotta play. So, he didn't want to play."

- Nick Wagoner, ESPN Staff Writer

NINERS SCORN 'SELFISH' DE'VORDE CAMPBELL'S REFUSAL TO PLAY

AP

SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- With injuries to their linebackers accumulating in the middle of the third quarter Thursday night against the Los Angeles Rams, the San Francisco 49ers turned to veteran De'Vondre Campbell to enter the game.

Campbell declined the invitation.

Then, in the fourth quarter, Campbell walked to the locker room with a towel over his head without playing a snap. After the Niners' 12-6 defeat at Levi's Stadium, head coach Kyle Shanahan explained that Campbell elected not to enter the game even though linebackers Dre Greenlaw (knee) and Dee Winters (neck) were dealing with injuries.

"He said he didn't want to play today," Shanahan said.

Campbell's decision and subsequent stroll to the locker room left Shanahan, teammates and coaches fuming after the loss. Shanahan said the plan was for Campbell to enter the game after Greenlaw had departed because he was dealing with some knee soreness. It was also Greenlaw's first game back from an Achilles injury he sustained in Super Bowl LVIII.

After Campbell said no, the Niners inserted Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles, the team's only healthy linebacker left on the roster, into the game. When the third quarter ended, Campbell walked to the locker room.

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

When asked whether Campbell would be released, Shanahan said simply, "We'll figure out something."

In the aftermath of a dispiriting defeat that almost certainly ends San Francisco's chances at a playoff berth, a few of Campbell's teammates declined to speak on the situation because word was just making its way around the locker room about what had happened. Linebacker Fred Warner and defensive end Nick Bosa said they didn't know enough details to offer much of an opinion.

"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."

Niners TE George Kittle

Others, such as tight end George Kittle and cornerback Charvarius Ward, had plenty to say. Kittle spoke to reporters for about 11 minutes, and with each passing minute he seemed to grow more irritated with what had occurred.

Kittle lamented that he wasn't on the sideline when it all went down so that he could have intervened.

"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. 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."

Kittle added: "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."

The Niners signed Campbell as an unrestricted free agent from the Green Bay Packers in March with the idea that he would be the placeholder at weak side linebacker until Greenlaw returned. That signing came after veteran linebacker Eric Kendricks agreed to a deal with the Niners then backed out at the last minute to sign with the Dallas Cowboys instead.

Campbell started 12 of the team's first 13 games, with the lone exception being because the Niners started five down lineman and only one linebacker (Warner) before he entered. Coincidentally, that nonstart also came against the Rams. In the team's first 13 games, Campbell played 90% of San Francisco's defensive snaps with 79 tackles, including three for loss, and a pair of passes defended.

But with Greenlaw back, the Niners started in the nickel package with Greenlaw and Warner as the two linebackers, and Winters entering as the third option in base defense.

It wasn't until injuries to the other linebackers that Campbell revealed he didn't want to play, a decision that angered Ward, who played only weeks after the death of his 1-year-old daughter.

"He's a professional," Ward said. "He's been playing for a long time. If he didn't want to play, he shouldn't have dressed out. He could have told them that before the game. I feel like that was some selfish s--- that he did. It definitely hurt the team. Dee went down and we needed a linebacker. ... So, for him to do that, that's some selfish stuff to me, in my opinion. He's probably going to get cut soon, so it is what it is with that."

- Nick Wagoner, ESPN Staff Writer