The Green Bay Packers have officially lost their third defensive free agent of the offseason. First, safety Darnell Savage left to join the Jaguars on a three-year deal. Then, other safety Jonathan Owens joined the arch-rival Chicago Bears on a two-year deal. Today, former First-Team All-Pro linebacker De’Vondre Campbell signed a one-year deal with the San Francisco 49ers.

Green Bay chose to cut Campbell prior to the start of free agency to free up over $10 million in cap space. With that money and more, on the defensive side, the team signed free agent safety Xavier McKinney to a four-year, $68 million deal. Additionally, they brought back cornerbacks Keisean Nixon and Corey Ballentine.

After joining Green Bay back in 2021 on a one-year, veteran minimum deal, De’Vondre Campbell absolutely exploded. He started all 16 games that he played in and recorded a career-high 146 tackles. He was the only player in the league to record 140+ tackles, five or more tackles for loss, five or more pass deflections, multiple interceptions, multiple sacks, and multiple forced fumbles. He was one of the best defenders in the league that year. He was a good player in both 2022 and 2023 but not the same. He missed 10 combined games and didn’t crack 100 tackles again.

San Francisco is getting a quality veteran that is good when healthy. Campbell was a key locker room voice for the Packers and has Super Bowl experience (2016 with the Falcons). Speaking of Atlanta, that is where he first met Kyle Shanahan, who was the offensive coordinator of the Falcons at the time.

With Dre Greenlaw’s torn achilles, San Fran needed to find some more insurance at linebacker, especially after Eric Kendricks chose to go to Dallas instead of the Bay Area.