De’Vondre Campbell Rips Packers Coaches, Front Office in X Rant
Former Packers linebacker De’Vondre Campbell.
De’Vondre Campbell is setting the record straight on the “false information” about his departure from the Green Bay Packers this offseason — and levying a whole lot more criticism against the coaches and front office in the process.
Campbell fired off more than a dozen posts in an air-clearing X rant on March 17, responding to fans’ comments and providing context from his perspective on what went wrong with Joe Barry’s defense in 2023 and why the team moved on from his last week.
“One thing I’m not gonna let happen is bad information being put out about me,” Campbell wrote. “All year I was out there tryna make people right because they were busting coverages and run fits.
The Packers released Campbell on March 13 with a post-June 1 designation with three seasons left on the five-year, $50 million contract extension he signed in 2022. Several days later, he posted on his Instagram story saying that “someone is about to get a great football player that’s been badly misused” and signed with San Francisco shortly after.
Now, Campbell has clarified that he is not trying to trash the Packers with his “badly misused” comment. He calls the Packers “the best organization I’ve ever been a part of at this point” and insists that he is not mad or bitter with anyone.
“But it’s some coaches I lost ALL respect for,” Campbell added.
De’Vondre Campbell Met Privately With Matt LaFleur
Campbell did not call out any coaches by name in his numerous posts, but what he did say made it clear that he had a problem with former defensive coordinator Joe Barry’s scheme and some of the notes coming from his defensive assistants the past two years.
“Listen if I would’ve listened to half the stuff they were telling me, I would’ve NEVER went all pro,” Campbell wrote. “All year all I heard was ‘Can you do this? It’ll help the scheme.” I kept saying no all year and look what happened. First Team All-Pro.
“Fast forward to [the] 2022 [and] 2023 seasons, I tried to be a team guy and play within the system and do what they asked. ‘Be more visual on QB and not look up routes.’ ‘Back up from LOS so I’m not pressing every WR or TE.” Look what happened. They had me [and] Quay [Walker] looking clueless smh.”
Packers fans are well aware of the fact that Barry’s scheme had many problems. His defense surrendered at least 23 points per game during the team’s 1-7 stretch from Week 5 to 12 during the 2023 season. While the unit did improve down the stretch, Campbell credits, in part, his own intervention for helping get them on the right track.
“You wanna know why we played better???” Campbell wrote. “Because I started going and having private meetings with Matt [LaFleur] and telling him we needed to be more aggressive. We needed more man and we needed to blitz more, and what happened when they listened to me. WE PLAYED WELL AND WON IT’S NO COINCIDENCE.”
Packers Did Not Ask De’Vondre Campbell to Take a Pay Cut
The majority of Campbell’s rant focused on his issues with the defensive scheme and the instructions coming from unspecified coaches. He did take a small dig at the Packers’ front office, though, for not trying to work to keep him for the 2024 season.
The Packers elected to release Campbell and create roughly $10.57 million in cap savings instead of trying to keep the former All-Pro linebacker on their roster for next season. From a depth perspective, they likely feel that the emergence of Isaiah McDuffie and the continued ascent of Walker — a 2022 first-round pick — offers them plenty.
Still, Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst told reporters on February 1 that he would “love” to have Campbell back for the 2024 season. But, according to Campbell, the team made no efforts to keep him and did not even approach him about a pay cut.
“The organization didn’t even call me to ask if I wanted to take a pay cut,” Campbell said when asked why he liked a tweet about how the Packers are “the worst team” based on how they treat players on their way out. “They just released me after going in the media and saying me and Aaron Jones were apart [sic] of the future plans. They could’ve just told me the truth. I could easily be bitter, but I’m not.”
Jordan J. Wilson is a sports reporter who covers the Chicago Bears, Green Bay Packers, Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals for Heavy.com. He has previously covered all levels of sports — high school, college and pro — for a variety of publications including The Indianapolis Star, The News-Gazette, Springfield State-Journal Register and Peoria Journal Star.
