Campbell joined us to discuss college, coaching in the NFL, what brought him to the 49ers, and much more.
San Francisco 49ers linebacker De’Vondre Campbell joined me thanks to a Campbell Soup sponsorship. From a marketing standpoint, it was a no-brainer since he shares the last name.
Aside from his sponsorship with Campbell’s Soup, this interview aimed to introduce 49ers fans to De’Vondre, the person while we walk through his past. He revealed that after football, his favorite sport was hockey. Born in Fort Myers, Florida, Campbell has every opportunity to jump on the bandwagon and root for the Florida Panthers.
If you were given a hundred guesses as to what Campbell would be doing if he weren’t playing football, would a NASCAR driver have been one? Doubtful. Dealing with cars, in general, is De’Vondre’s biggest hobby outside his football life.
“I’ve driven an actual race car on a race track before.” When asked how fast he went, Campbell responded, “160, I think I got up to.” Laughing, Campbell wanted to clarify that he was a free agent when this incident occurred.
Campbell’s love for hockey likely developed during his college days, which we’ll get to shortly. Before NASCAR, hockey, and football, it was fishing.
Growing up in Florida, Campbell was always around water. His dad worked on a shrimp boat, and his parents had a lake behind their house. “A South Florida kid, that’s just a part of growing up. You’re going to fish. I just really grew up around it, and that’s just always something that was a part of me, basically, for like the first 16, 17 years of my life.”
Campbell hasn’t fished since his teenage days. Moving to the midwest shifted his focus, although he still has a place in his heart for fishing. “It’s like riding a bike. I could go out there and do it right now, and it’ll be like I never stopped.”
Referring to his time in college, De’Vondre took the Junior College route out of high school. Attending Hutchinson C.C., Campbell was a teammate with a few recognizable names, Markus Golden and Cordarrelle Patterson.
We know about Patterson’s greatness now, but he’s always been an incredible talent. I asked De’Vondre about the first “wow” moment he saw from Patterson. He shared a story and also expressed his feelings about why JUCO is more complicated than the NFL:
“He was probably one of the top two football players I’ve ever seen. He never practiced. That’s the thing about it. They didn’t practice him because they didn’t want him to get hurt. But the first game of the season, I had redshirted that year because I got a really bad concussion in training camp. So, I got redshirted, which is rare in JUCO.
You have to be a really good player to get redshirted. They usually cut you and send you on your way. Which I tell people, JUCO is way harder than the NFL. If you can make it out of that, you can make it through anything.
So, first game of the season, opening kickoff, they kick him the ball, he takes it to the house. Like, nobody touches him. He scored two kick return touchdowns that game. I think he might’ve scored like three or four times that game. Nobody could touch him because he was so fast.”
Patterson would go on to do the same thing at the University of Tennessee, and that wouldn’t stop in the NFL. You’ll have to listen to the audio, but Campbell said, “I played with way better players in JUCO than I played with in the NFL.”
After JUCO, Campbell transferred to the University of Minnesota, where he had three years of eligibility left. I had one question about his time as a Gopher: What was his first experience with a Juicy Lucy?
“I think my wife had ordered me one from the 58 Club, a spot over there in south Minneapolis. We still get food from there. She used to go over there when I first met her. It was two blocks away from where her house was. We used to order from there all the time.
That was… life-changing, I would say. Because I’m a burger guy, and I’m like, ‘They actually find a way to put the cheese inside of it and cook the burger? ‘ I was astounded.”
When De’Vondre’s wife told him there were better places that made a Juicy Lucy than the 58 Club, he could not believe it.
Campbell recently tweeted that former San Diego Chargers running back LaDainian Tomlinson was the best running back of all time. He clarified:
“That’s just what I’ve seen. That’s not to say that he is the best. Debates like that are weird because people will be like, ‘Oh, so what about Barry [Sanders] and Walker [Payton].’ I’m like, bro, I was born in ‘93. I did not watch Walter in his prime, and I retired by the time he was six. I don’t remember, but the highlights speak for themselves.
I can name you the best players that I’ve seen or that I’ve played against.”
When I followed up with Campbell about who that is today, the answer was easy: “I think Pat [Mahomes], man. Pat, bro. When it’s all said and done, I think he’s gonna be the best ever—he’s only in Year 7 or 8 or something. You know, quarterbacks play forever.
At the pace he’s at, he could legit go down as the best ever. Or at least top two or three for sure. I think Pat is the best player in our league right now.”
Tying the conversation back to social media, I asked De’Vondre if he forgets how popular he is when he tweets. Last year, as Green Bay Packers fans will remind you, Campbell used Twitter to complain about his role, usage, playing time, etc.
Campbell cut me off before I could finish my sentence, saying, “I’m not popular. I’m just a regular person who just happened to make it and doing something I love. I’m a regular person, bro.
That’s what people don’t understand. I am not famous. I just have a great job. I don’t like attention. People that know me ask, ‘how do you do it?’ I tell them my paychecks. I don’t talk a lot. I’m very anti-social and introverted. I don’t talk a lot. I’m always to myself. I’m with my wife and my kids, or I’m by myself.”
This was the tweet that prompted the question:
I can’t even lie I’m having so much fun playing football again… The situation I was in was making me lose my love for the game but I’m back having fun again and I love that for myself. Thank you God
— De’Vondre Campbell (@Came_Along_Way) May 20, 2024
Campbell opened up when we touched on the coaching topic, specifically at the NFL. The tweet above was after about a month and a half of offseason work with the Niners. He loves the coaching staff in the Bay Area, but saying it without saying it, Campbell came from a place where he was not fond of the coaching:
“Y’all wouldn’t understand the stuff that I was going through. I’ve had friends and people from other teams say, ‘I’ve had coaches that have made me hate the sport.’ And I’m thinking, ‘Man, that ain’t true. If you really love the game.’
But I’m like, when you’re out here, and you’re really putting everything you can into something, and people just ain’t listening to you and stuff ain’t going the way you want, that’s frustrating. And it makes you be like, ‘Well if they don’t care, why should I care?’
But you can’t say it was me first. As fans, people don’t know stuff like that. They don’t get it. But I don’t care to explain. If you gotta problem with something I say, ‘Oh well.’ It’s not going to change nothing about how I move. I say what I say and I stand on it. I know what I did, the work that I put in, and how I tried to make things work. I leave any situation with my head held high.
I’m a truth-teller. I don’t lie. I’m too old to be lying to anybody. What reason do I have to get on here and lie? I’m telling y’all the truth, and y’all be upset about it. If you want to be mad, I’ll just leave it alone. Because you want the truth, I tell you the truth, and then you’re like, ‘Well, that can’t be how it happened!’ What do you mean? I’m in the building every day?
Y’all are going to protect the organization no matter what I tell you. So, I’ll just tell you the truth and let you decide how you feel about it.”
Campbell didn’t mention anybody by name, but these examples are oddly specific to the situation in Green Bay last season.
My final question was about Campbell’s new team, the 49ers. Kyle Shanahan has coached his players to play with a level of intent that is difficult for other teams to simulate. Generally speaking, it’s too late by the time you’ve caught up to their physicality. You don’t understand how hard they play until they punch you in the mouth.
I asked De’Vondre if that played a part in his coming to the Bay Area:
“Yeah, it’s the way they coach, bro. You’re held to a certain expectation. It’s part of a winning culture when you’re held to a certain expectation. You can say what you want, but when you play against the 49ers, you know, you can’t make many mistakes, and you better be physical. Because they’re going to be physical, and they’re going to do everything right, play in and play out. That’s just how they coach.
That’s just how detailed Kyle [Shanahan] is in general. And I’ve known that since the day I met him. I was with Kyle in Atlanta, so I’ve always known how detailed he is. I’ve never seen it from a head coaching perspective. I’ve seen it from an offensive coordinator’s perspective.
So now being able to see him run the show, he doesn’t even understand just in the 6-8 weeks that I’ve been there how much better he’s made me as a player. Just telling me how he sees stuff or what he tries to get me to do. So I’m like, bro, you don’t even understand what you just done did with me sitting in on these team meetings. He’s so smart.”
This is coming from somebody who has been in the NFL since 2016. If he’s able to soak up this much game from Shanahan, imagine how beneficial and impactful Shanahan’s words are to first and second-year players. De’Vondre has a message for the youngsters on the Niners:
“Bro, you can’t take this for granted because there’s such thing as bad coaching. There’s some bad coaches out there, like, there’s some bad coaches out there, for real. Y’all got some really good coaches here.
The thing that I’m going to say that a lot of people aren’t going to like, most of the coaches on that staff have played. They’re giving you a level of insight that certain people can’t give you. You either take that the wrong way, or you don’t, and a lot of people do.
When you embrace former players that want to help, that’s when you get the best results. They give different levels of insight. You could be the best coach in the world. Ain’t nothing like going out there and doing it.”
Campbell has a point: a coach who has been in the same shoes as him can make what he’s saying relatable. That’s not the case if you haven’t lived or experienced the “football” life.
De’Vondre continued, talking about 49ers linebackers coach Johnny Holland:
“Johnny taught me how to juggle in like 60 seconds. And just in those 6-8 weeks of being there, I was able to make some plays in practice; I was like, ‘I was able to make those plays because I was juggling.
I used to watch Fred [Warner], and I used to be like, ‘Man, how the he… are you making those plays?’ And now I see. You’re over here doing stuff that I haven’t done before. It makes sense. He’s being coached to be the best, and that’s why he’s performing the way he is. These things don’t happen overnight. They’re not accidents. You put the work in.
I’ve been telling Fred for eight weeks, ‘bro, you’re lucky. I wish I had this.’”
Even if that’s not the reason Campbell was making plays, the 49ers messaging is getting through to him. That’s the sign of a quality coach.