49ers news: Should the Niners consider benching LB DeVondre Campbell?

It was not a pretty weekend for the San Francisco 49ers, who dropped a close 27-24 game to the Los Angeles Rams to fall below .500 heading into Week 4.

With the way the game played out, there were a number of hot topics after the loss, with linebacker DeVondre Campbell being one of the key issues.

Campbell struggled again in Week 3, especially in coverage where he gave up a 15-yard touchdown pass to Kyren Williams while working 1-on-1 before allowing a 25-yard pass interference penalty on the final drive that allowed Los Angeles to score the game-winning field goal.

The linebacker was one of San Francisco’s top free agent acquisitions this offseason, with the 49ers paying him $5 million on a one-year deal after whiffing on veteran Eric Kendricks. However, the move came with questions, as Campbell had not looked like his 2021 All-Pro self over the past two years, struggling in Green Bay before hitting free agency.

Three weeks in, those questions have only intensified, and it seemed the 49ers could’ve been making a change, as Dee Winters came in for Campbell for a drive, but went down with an injury shortly after, leading to the veteran playing almost the entirety of the game.

Was the Winters move seen as an indictment on Campbell’s play?

“Just planned on it before the game,” head coach Kyle Shanahan said of inserting Winters in for Campbell on the third defensive drive. “We wanted to do that early going into this year also. But Dee just got hurt there, I think in that last preseason game, so that set that back a little bit. He’s gotten healthy and we planned on doing that early, just like the week before we planned on doing it with [S George Odum] G.O. and Malik [Mustapha]. We started that and he got hurt on, he reaggravated his ankle on the fake punt.”

While Shanahan didn’t say that the move was reflective of Campbell’s performance, he did highlight the desire to get the best players out there, which is why Winters earned an opportunity to play in Week 3.

“We want to keep working to get the best guys out there and Dee has had a good camp and he showed that he deserves the chance to push [Campbell],” Shanahan said on Monday. “He did good on the plays that he did when he was in there and hopefully he’ll get healthy so we can keep doing the same stuff.”

Winters is day-to-day with an ankle injury, which has been something he’s dealt with all year, hence why the linebacker was out for Week 1.

But, when he returns to full health, it’ll be intriguing to monitor how the 49ers handle their linebacker situation until Dre Greenlaw returns, which Shanahan noted is still a while away.

If Campbell continues to be an issue though, $5 million or not, the 49ers may need to make a change regardless.