De’Vondre Campbell has at least one person who understands his perspective.
The linebacker refused to enter the game for the 49ers in the third quarter before walking off to the locker room minutes later in Thursday’s 12-9 loss to the Rams, earning him scorn from pundits, fans and his teammates.
“It’s one person making a selfish decision,” tight end George Kittle told reporters. “I’ve never been around anybody that’s ever done that, and I hope I’m never around anybody who does that again.”
“For him to do that, that’s some sucka stuff to me, in my opinion,” cornerback Charvarius Ward said. “He’s probably going to get cut soon, so it is what it is with that.”
If Campbell is looking for support, all he had to do was flip to ESPN, where ex-NFLer Bart Scott tried to explain why it might’ve gone down like this, while noting he wasn’t defending the actions.
“Remember this is a former All-Pro, a very prideful player in this league,” Scott, a former Jets and Ravens star, told the Friday morning “Get Up” panel that included another former player in Ryan Clark, ex-executive Mike Tannenbaum and reporter Dan Graziano. “He’s come in, he knew that he was a one-year rental, he’s balled out.
“Now, his week probably went like this: Okay, (Dre) Greenlaw is back healthy he’s going to start. Football and is all about competition and getting what you’ve earned — he probably felt that he’s earned the right to continue to be the starting linebacker but all of a sudden now he’s relegated throughout the week to looking at cards and being part of the look team, right?
“That’s demoralizing for a prideful man that feels like he’s a starter in this league and he has played at a high level. So now it’s the third quarter and now you guys need me. He’s probably has been fighting internally with himself whether he wanted to play all week and I’m sure his agent was saying, ‘Hey be a professional do what you’re supposed to do,’ and he got caught up in the emotions of things that, now you want you want me to come play and save you guys after you guys basically told me that I’m a stepchild.
“Everybody that spoke in that meeting when you talk about Kittle, you talk about Ward, they’re going they’re there for the long term. You just told me that I was a rental car. It’s one thing to know that, it’s another thing to see it and have to receive that in real time.”
Scott may be the only one willing to give Campbell some kind of slack — his “Get Up” cohorts certainly weren’t.
“Don’t give a damn about none of that,” Clark retorted, adding that he didn’t think Campbell should get the chance to ever play in the NFL again.
Scott’s take didn’t exactly sit well with those watching at home, either.
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“I have come to the decision that @GetUpESPN brings Bart Scott on every week to just be as idiotic as possible,” one X user wrote. “Today his idiotic take is that De’Vondre Campbell is somewhat justified in refusing to go into the game. Scott is the worst part of a great show every week.”
“Man, Bart Scott loves making himself look like a dumbass,” added another. “How are you defending De’Vondre Campbell????”
“Bart Scott trying to justify a guy quitting on his team and walking off is so on par for this clown and @espn,” another X user chimed in. “The ruination of football.”
