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Will 49ers LB De'Vondre Campbell Appeal his Suspension and Win?

Don't be surprised if the 49ers end up having to pay Campbell for the final two games.

Grant Cohn

Oct 6, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray (1) gestures while rushing for a touchdown against the San Francisco 49ers linebacker De'Vondre Campbell (59) during the first quarter at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images
Oct 6, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray (1) gestures while rushing for a touchdown against the San Francisco 49ers linebacker De'Vondre Campbell (59) during the first quarter at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images / Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images
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The 49ers announced their punishment for linebacker De'Vondre Campbell on Monday.

"We have suspended De’Vondre Campbell for three games due to conduct detrimental to the team," general manager John Lynch said in a statement. "We will have no further comment on the matter."

Campbell refused to play in the 49ers' 12-6 loss to the Rams on Thursday night despite suiting up for the game. The 49ers had benched Campbell in favor of Dre Greenlaw but needed Campbell to play once Greenlaw left the game with a knee injury. So Campbell's stunt hurt the 49ers' chances of winning. No wonder they're so upset with him.

But Campbell almost certainly will appeal the suspension, and he just might win the appeal.

Keep in mind, Baltimore Ravens Diontae Johnson recently did something similar. The Ravens traded for Johnson before the deadline, then he refused to enter their Week 13 loss to the Eagles. So the Ravens suspended him for one game then excused Johnson from team activities for the rest of the season. Which means he lost just one game check.

The 49ers want to take three away from Campbell, and the NFL might not let them. Because the Ravens set a precedent with their suspension of Johnson. The league might not want to set a new precedent by suspending a player who refused to play for more than one game.

Don't be surprised if the 49ers end up having to pay Campbell for the final two games.

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Grant Cohn
GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.

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