Linebacker De'Vondre Campbell turned himself into one of the heels of the 2024 NFL season, when he straight-up declined to play when called upon during the San Francisco 49ers' Thursday night loss to the Los Angeles Rams back in mid-December. On the surface, at least, it was inexcusable, a player who responded to a decrease in playing time by quitting on his team when they needed him. And Campbell was excoriated accordingly in the days that followed, while the Niners banished him from the building while refusing to let him sign elsewhere for the remainder of the year.
You'd think that, more than two months later, cooler heads would have prevailed, and Campbell would be willing to at least reconsider how he handled things in the heat of the moment. Instead, the he's chosen ... the exact opposite course of action.
De'Vondre Campbell defends quitting on 49ers: 'I’m rich and never have to work another day of my life'
Not only does Campbell not think he did anything wrong in this whole saga, but he continues to insist that he was actually the victim here. In a profanity-laced tirade on X on Friday, the linebacker made clear that, at least in his opinion, the full truth has yet to be known, heavily implying that the 49ers are burying what actually happened.
Listen,
— De'Vondre Campbell (@Came_Along_Way) February 21, 2025
I’m sick of all you bitch ass niggas jumping under my tweets. It’s been 2 months and I have yet to address the situation cause I know the truth and don’t care to clear anything up. I’m by myself ALL the time if you or any of them bitch ass niggas from the 49ers feel some https://t.co/Avugu2ALDL
type of way go wit ya move when you see me cause all them niggas that had so much to say about me gone have to stand on them words next time I see them I been standing on business my whole life and it’s gone be like that until the day I’m 6ft under pussy ass niggas don’t know me
— De'Vondre Campbell (@Came_Along_Way) February 21, 2025
That goes for all them old ass retired niggas that jumped on TV speaking on my name when they could’ve reached out to me and heard it from the horses mouth but they just took what the 49ers said and ran with it. Yall niggas pussy too fuck all of yall 🤷🏿♂️
— De'Vondre Campbell (@Came_Along_Way) February 21, 2025
He then ratcheted up the rhetoric even more, posting that "I'm rich and never have to work another day in my life" while adding that he only came to San Francisco after head coach Kyle Shanahan and GM John Lynch begged him to do so after his release by the Green Bay Packers.
I ain’t addressing shit. I’m rich and never have to work another day of my life and I told Kyle Shannahan and John Lynch that when they FaceTime me and begged me to come out there an hour after Green Bay cut me I really be sparing niggas 🤫. I play because I WANT TO. https://t.co/vZzcvJL35j
— De'Vondre Campbell (@Came_Along_Way) February 21, 2025
Maybe that's true; maybe San Francisco really did make promises to Campbell to get him to sign with the Niners, promises that they then reneged on. But "begging" a player to sign in no way obligates a team to give that player all the playing time he thinks he deserves, especially considering how injury-ravaged San Francisco was down the stretch this past season. And it definitely doesn't excuse Campbell handling the situation in the way that he did, dressing and standing on the sideline only to refuse to play when his number was called. Even if he has a leg to stand on here, "two wrongs don't make a right" is an adage that comes to mind, and bragging about how little he has to work for the rest of his life sure won't help resuscitate his career.