The 49ers have suspended linebacker De’Vondre Campbell for the rest of the season after he refused to play on Thursday night, and coach Kyle Shanahan is acknowledging that in hindsight he wishes he’d never brought Campbell to San Francisco in the first place.
Playing for the Packers last year, Campbell seemed disgruntled, and when Green Bay cut him this offseason he badmouthed the team. Shanahan was asked today if the 49ers thought about those issues before signing him. Shanahan said the 49ers knew about the red flags with Campbell but were desperate to sign a linebacker after Dre Greenlaw had torn his Achilles tendon in the Super Bowl.
“Yeah, of course,” Shanahan answered. “We look into all that. It was tough losing Dre. We knew we were going to need a starting-caliber linebacker. We had two guys that we thought we had committed that we lost in free agency. Then another guy got cut after that and became available.”
Shanahan said his own experience with Campbell on the Falcons and conversations he had with others in the league who knew Campbell made him think things would be OK.
“I was with De’Vondre his rookie year in Atlanta, so I knew what he was capable of,” Shanahan said. “Not that I was real close with the defensive guys, being the offensive coordinator there, but I know we liked him in that building. I know a lot of guys who have coached him who have been good. And we obviously made a mistake. It’s not something that we didn’t look into. We look into everything. You weigh the risk-reward of stuff. You weigh the situation that you have and what decision you can make in terms of the options. By no means was it our first option. But at the time, with what went down, we thought it was our best option. And it didn’t work out.”
It certainly didn’t work out for the 49ers, and it may serve as a cautionary tale for every team when considering signing a player who has worn out his welcome in his last stop.
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