We all have had that moment at work where we throw our hands in the air and go, “I’m done. I’m leaving.” Yet, there’s always something inside of us that pulls us right back down into that chair so we can finish out the day.
While fantasizing about storming out of your place of employment is something we all have done at one point, it actually carried out on national television when San Francisco 49ers lineback De’Vondre Campbell was seen heading to the locker room during the game. It was later revealed that he quit on the team midgame. He didn’t feel like playing.
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The nine-year veteran left midway in the third quarter and never returned. Even better, he gave the team no reason for doing so. To no surprise, the entire team is pissed off at him now, especially since they already were mad about just losing an important game.
“When someone says that, you move on,” said head coach Kyle Shanahan. “You don’t deal with that anymore. That’s somebody who doesn’t want to play football, that’s pretty simple.”
There were plenty of other comments just like that from the players, including one from Charvaris Ward who called it “some sucka shit to me.”
“I think that’s ignorant,” responded teammate George Kittle. “And I think it’s just dumb. It’s just stupid, and it’s very immature. I just don’t see how you could do something like that to your team.”
As of this writing, Campbell is still on the 49ers’ roster. But this doesn’t feel like something that will result in anything but a separation from the team and player. After all, this is Campbell’s first year with the team after he signed a one-year contract in March, so it’s not like he can lean in on any goodwill he has built up with the organization over time.
If you’re wondering what Campbell would be walking away from, well, he was on a $5 million contract. Sheesh. Then again, he has more than $39 million in career earnings, so I suppose he’ll be okay either way.
