Lynch Reveals Players, Coaches Pleading for Campbell to Play in 49ers-Rams originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
We do a lot of things on the clash reported between John Lynch and Suspended 49ers linebacker De’Vondre Campbell During last Thursday’s game against the Los Angeles Rams, the general manager clarified what happened during the interaction.
Lynch downplayed the encounter, but he did reveal what led him to leave his suite midgame to handle the situation on the 49ers sideline.
“I think it was talked about a lot in terms of confrontation. I’m not sure it was confrontational. It was a quick conversation,” Lynch said Friday. KNBR’s “Murph & Markus.” “I think we had a little signal that his energy wasn’t good. (Coach) Kyle (Shanahan) had a conversation with him and we thought everything would be OK. It wasn’t. .And you could see that right away during the game, at one point it became clear to me that he was refusing to participate in the game. And as you watch him, they’re coming out. halftime and so on became one. distraction in what was essentially a playoff game for us.
“At that time, Kyle was coaching the team. I usually don’t come down until late in a game, but I could see it was really becoming a distraction because one by one, the players (and) coaches were trying to make him leave. “I finally said I had to see what was happening, (and) if what was happening was what I thought, he had to get off the field.
“So that’s just what it was. That’s how it ended. It’s unfortunate. It’s nothing anyone wanted, but you can’t stand that. Just like us “Let’s talk about finishing (the season) and supporting each other, when you have something contrary to that, that’s not who we are, that’s not who we’ll ever be.”
THE 49ers suspend Campbell for the remainder of the 2024 season after the veteran linebacker refused to play in San Francisco’s “Thursday Night Football” loss to Los Angeles at Levi’s Stadium. The suspension, rather than a release, will prevent Campbell from signing with another team.
Campbell’s decision not to play came as star linebacker Dre Greenlaw was making his debut in the 2024 season after returning from a torn Achilles, but the exact reason for Campbell’s actions has yet to be explained.
Lynch thinks this explanation will never come.
“I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t think I’ll ever know,” Lynch said. “We’re going to leave it at that. He’s not here anymore and we’re going to move forward.”
Lacking linebacker depth after the 2023 season, the 49ers signed Campbell to a one-year deal to line up alongside All-Pro Fred Warner while Greenlaw recovered. The deal came just days after veteran linebacker Eric Kendricks reached a deal with the 49ers before opting out and agreeing to a new deal with the Dallas Cowboys.
Shanahan admitted to the media earlier this week that signing Campbell was a mistake, and while Lynch doesn’t disagree, he knows there’s a lesson to be learned about being selective with the players they are looking for in free agency.
“Yes, and that’s the danger), free agency can be really beneficial to a team, but it’s not as complete,” Lynch explained. “In a way, you can follow a player’s history throughout the NFL. In the draft process, we delve a lot into his character and we have this library. I think some things were said when He left Green Bay We had some comfort because some people had been with him in Atlanta and so on, and it didn’t work out sometimes in free agency.
“But it’s always a good lesson to know that you have to be very careful, especially when you have a team that has really forged a strong culture together, you stick out like a sore thumb when you’re not one of ours. It’s an excellent lesson.”
