The San Francisco 49ers find themselves in a significant predicament as they prepare to suspend linebacker De’Vondre Campbell for the final three games of the 2024 regular season. This decision comes after Campbell's controversial act of refusing to enter the game during their 12-6 loss to the Los Angeles Rams on Thursday. NFL Media reported this development on Monday, and the 49ers have been working closely with the NFL to determine the appropriate punishment, aiming to avoid releasing him and seeing him play for another team. As stated by 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan on Friday, "His actions from the game are not something you can do to your team or teammates and still expect to be a part of our team. We're working through the semantics right now, but we'll handle the situation appropriately."

Campbell's Contract and Game Status

Campbell, who signed a one-year, million deal with the 49ers over the offseason, had been a key player for the team. He started 12 of the 49ers' first 13 games and played in over 90% of their defensive snaps. However, his benching in Thursday's game was a surprise as veteran linebacker Dre Greenlaw returned from an Achilles tendon injury that he suffered in the team's Super Bowl loss in February. Initially, the 49ers intended to put Campbell into the game during the third quarter as Greenlaw dealt with some soreness. But the tense situation with Campbell developed earlier. As reported by NFL on FOX insider Jay Glazer on "FOX NFL Sunday," the 49ers started noticing in the second quarter that Campbell was refusing to go in. It was John Lynch who actually went down to the field in the third quarter and confronted De’Vondre, ultimately sending him to the locker room.During the game, Campbell walked off the field with a towel draped over his head and went into the locker room before it ended. Shanahan claimed that he didn't send Campbell to the locker room and was unaware of his departure. Campbell's actions were met with widespread criticism in the football world. His own teammates also called him out. 49ers cornerback Charvarius Ward said after the game, "He's a professional. 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 before the game. So I feel like that was selfish. It definitely hurt the team. Dre went down and we needed a linebacker. … For him to do that, that's sucker [stuff] in my opinion. He's probably going to get cut soon." Tight end George Kittle called Campbell's actions "stupid" and "immature." He said, "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 Associated Press contributed to this report. [Want great stories delivered right to your inbox? Create or log in to your FOX Sports account, follow leagues, teams and players to receive a personalized newsletter daily.]