GREEN BAY, Wis. — Only two seasons removed from his first-team All-Pro selection, Green Bay Packers linebacker De’Vondre Campbell is out of a job.
The Packers will release the veteran linebacker when the new league year opens on Wednesday, a source confirmed to ESPN. It ends a three-year run with the team.
Campbell was due to make $10.75 million this season, including a $2.9 million roster bonus that was due on March 15. By cutting Campbell before then, the Packers are off the hook for that bonus and his entire 2024 compensation. If they designate him as a post-June 1 cut, they will save $10,573,519 on this year’s salary cap. If not, they will still save $2,602,529 million on the cap. His cap charge for this season would have been $14,230,529. Instead, he will count $11.628 million in dead money (or $3.657 million if he’s a post-June 1 cut).
There were still three years left on a five-year, $50 million contract Campbell signed on March 14, 2022. At that point, he was coming off an All-Pro season in his first year with the Packers. He originally came to Green Bay on a one-year, $2 million deal that he signed in June 2021 after spending one season with the Arizona Cardinals.
After Campbell’s highly productive season in 2021, the Packers signed him to a long-term deal. However, injuries limited his playing time and productions in each of the last two seasons, missing 10 games combined in the 2022 and 2023 seasons due to knee and ankle injuries. Late this past season, Campbell posted on social media that he would no longer play hurt. Coach Matt LaFleur gave him some time off from practice to help him “get his body back.”
“He’s missed some games and he’s been battling through,” LaFleur said at the time. “He’s missed games this year. He’s been on and off the injury report. Certainly, I think that comes with a lot of frustration when you don’t feel you’re at your best because of health reasons. So, we just think it’s best at this time to kind of give him the week, and we’ll see where we’re at after this week.”
Campbell refused to discuss his post at the time. He returned for the regular-season finale and played in both playoff games.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel first reported the Packers’ decision to release Campbell.
The Packers also are expected to make a decision on left tackle David Bakhtiari’s future before free agency starts on Wednesday. Bakhtiari is coming off his fifth knee surgery since he tore his ACL on Dec. 31, 2020, and is likely to be released.
