DECEMBER 4: Al-Shaair’s three-game suspension has been upheld by hearing officer Ramon Foster. Foster, a former Steelers offensive guard from 2009-19, was jointly appointed by the NFL and NFLPA and declined to give Al-Shaair any leniency after his hit on Lawrence virtually ended the quarterback’s season.
DECEMBER 3: A decision has been made on a suspension for Azeez Al-Shaair. The Texans linebacker has received a three-game ban, the NFL announced on Tuesday. Al-Shaair will appeal, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports.
“Your lack of sportsmanship and respect for the game of football and all those who play, coach, and enjoy watching it, is troubling and does not reflect the core values of the NFL,” a letter from NFL VP of football operations Jon Runyan reads in part. “Your continued disregard for NFL playing rules puts the health and safety of both you and your opponents in jeopardy and will not be tolerated.”
As Runyan’s letter notes, Al-Shaair’s history of personal fouls in recent years played a role determining the length of the ban. This will be the 27-year-old’s first NFL suspension, one which many felt could be handed down in the wake of his hit on Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence. After the play, Al-Shaair was involved in a brawl which led to multiple players (including himself) being ejected from the game, which was another factor in the league’s suspension decision. The FAU product has since publicly apologized for his actions.
Lawrence was carted off the field following the hit, and he is now in concussion protocol. That has left his availability for the remainder of the season, while in Al-Shaair’s case today’s news will leave him sidelined until Week 18. If he were to win his appeal though, the ban would be reduced which would open the door to a return earlier in the Texans’ remaining schedule. The team’s bye will take place in Week 14 before a stretch where Houston will look to secure the AFC South.
Al-Shaair has been a full-time starter in 2024, his first season as a Texan. The former UDFA spent four seasons with the 49ers, playing under DeMeco Ryans during that time. After a single campaign with the Titans, Al-Shaair signed a three-year deal with Houston which allowed him to reunite with Ryans. He has posted 68 tackles and pair of sacks to date, and replacing that production will be challenging for the Texans over the near future.
Sitting at 8-5 on the year, a divisional title is firmly within reach for Houston. The team is on track to reach the postseason as a result, and even if Al-Shaair’s appeal is unsuccessful he will be available once the playoffs begin.
Should be out for the year. Trying to drive someone’s head into the ground is criminal.
100%
The NFL demands player safety. That cost him only 3 game checks, pathetic.
I left this under another comment, but I agree because let’s not forget his conduct in the bears game early in the season. Late hit on Caleb going out of bounds, and immediately got up and swung on Roschon Johnson but didn’t get tossed. Dudes brand of violence is Vontaze Burfict territory.
Not excusing the guy at all, but this was the type of brutality that existed in the NFL during the 70-80’s. I haven’t watched a ton of Texans games, but Al-Shaair seemed out of control vs the Bears earlier in the year. Bet Roschon Johnson would like a shot at him.
Three games seems appropriate for a first time offense. Thankfully for everyone, he got a bit of Lawrence’s shoulder in the hit, otherwise it could’ve been tragic.
In his case, it’s more about the fact he’s been a trouble maker in other games. Earlier in the year when they played the bears, he got away with punching a player on the sideline who wasn’t even part of the play.
It’s not a first time offense, just the first time he’s really been held accountable.
… and the result of that brutality in the game is a ridiculous number of players who ended up with CTE and other awful debilitating injuries.
Appealed down to 2 games most likely. Sad that you can potentially end a career with actions like this and get a couple weeks unpaid vacation as a punishment.
What if a player with multiple actions, like he’s had this year, would have to apply for reinstatement with a vote coming from the players as to whether or not the offender would be reinstated?
Houston’s off this week, so Al-Shaair is effectively banned for 4 weeks. Open date, Miami home, Kansas City away (12/21), Baltimore home (Xmas Day).
I’m just waiting to see the blindside block payback. At least that’s one of the ways they did it, back when football players took care of meting out punishment themselves.
I can’t believe Demeco Ryans is trying to blame Trevor Lawrence for the hit
Lawrence showed poor judgement trying to act like a RB (with a bum shoulder no less) but his sliding absolves him of any blame for the ensuing contact. Players have to take some responsibility for their own safety, which is why I always cringe when I see a RB try to hurdle a defender. If you’re doing something like that, you’re practically begging to have a knee blown out.
Ryans was right … Lawrence knew he would get hit and slid too late. He should have got down sooner but made the wrong decision.
Lawrence was on his way down, and Al-Shaair went low to take him out. Dude knew Lawrence was sliding when he started to lead with his forearm. Guy even admits that he’s trying to hurt people when he tackles. No room for dirty players in the league anymore. It’s sport not war. He should enlist in the military if that’s what he wants….
Good take, but you simply cant take the aggression away from defenders. They have no time to consider anything else but stopping the opposing player and sometimes the hits will be brutal. Thats why these players make, MILLIONS.
The fans, at least older ones, pay to see the violence of contact. This league was like war on the field at one time. Those days have long been gone.
But you see plenty of guys rolling off the hit every week when they see the qb start the slide. It’s not like this is a new rule. The rule was implemented way before dude entered the league. And as many others have noted, this is not a first time offense. It’s the 3rd time just THIS season….
He saw the beginning of the slide and launched at him with the forearm to the head. That’s dirty, man. It’d have been different if he tried to roll off the hit and accidentally made contact; but that isn’t what happened. Even guys that have played the game are speaking out against the hit.
@Brian Wolf…And so are the brains (and lives) of a lot of those players. Look…I get it. I’m an older guy than most in here, but CTE is bad. Very bad. Junior Seau, Chris Benoit (wrestler) and his family, Dave Duerson, etc. are proof that head injuries are very scary and need to be prevented at all costs.
Ryans is wrong
You apparently didn’t see what millions of others saw.
Apparently, I saw what Ryans saw … a QB sliding too late, which I also said yesterday.
If Lawrence was sliding too late, he would’ve got hit high, but he was already on the ground finishing up his slide when Al-Shaair went low to hit him. Ryans wasn’t defending his player after the game. He changed his tune this morning….
Because it’s a known fact within the NFL that quarterbacks slide late. They do it intentionally hoping to pick up an extra 15 yards for a late hit penalty or a roughing penalty.
Trevor Lawrence rolled the dice and took one on the chin. It’s on him.
This hit would’ve been boring 15 years ago. Qb doesn’t wanna get hit? Don’t run in the middle of the field you aren’t a rb. I have a solution to this: can’t touch a qb after they start a slide but if the qb in any way intimates a slide but doesn’t commit it’s a 15 yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and if they do it twice in a game they get tossed and suspended
You bring up something that I think most seem to forget. We do have an example of a quarterback starting to pretend to slide. Leading to a defender letting up and then that quarterback took off and ran all the way into the end zone. Josh Allen did this a few years ago maybe, might have been last year
The bottom line is NFL players are going to try to take advantage of everything they can. Because NFL teams are going to try to take advantage of everything they can. We tolerate them cheating. We tolerate them using steroids. Cheating is becoming an acceptable reality in competition in America. So, a quarterback pushing the envelope on this rule is to be expected.
I think a punishment is warranted. I don’t think three games makes any sense. And for the record the only reason I think the punishment is warranted is because the optics of the hit. I don’t really think he did anything deserving of anything other than the penalty he got in the game and being removed from the game for the fight afterwards. Which he did not start.
How does a ref tell the difference from a stop/juke to avoid a defender from “committing to a slide?” More rules that will be unequally applied depending on the team (aka Chiefs).
Weak punishment for a brutal hit on a QB.
Jags should have taken out Stroud’s knee given the lightness of this punishment
Yes, let’s hurt an innocent player. That’ll solve everything
What’s good for the goose is good for the gander.
That doesn’t excuse it
Al-Shaair should’ve gotten more games, then.
3-1/2 games without some bum linebacker for a Half without the opposing team’s starting QB? Who wouldn’t take that? A team that knows the other side has an expendable defender they could sacrifice for 3-1/2 games
I agree with that. I just don’t like the idea of physically harming players that have nothing to do with the situation
Someone needs to tell this guy it’s not 1977 anymore….
You were alive and watching football in ‘77 ?
And what was wrong back then? Reckon you hated the ‘60 – ‘76 versions.
Just put the league to flag football they’re headed to it anyway!
It may look great on television, but for the players, the lifetime ramifications of CTE is no joke. You would feel different if you were on the field and not in the stands….
Getting your ‘bell rung’ isn’t specific to the NFL!
I’ve had mine chimed a number of times and I’ve no regrets from the bumps, bruises, broken bones, gunshot wounds or broken heart and heart attack….just part of life get up dust yerself off and continue, don’t need no whimpy cart ride!
It’s called liability. The NFL isn’t interested in paying billions of dollars in healthcare costs for aberrant conduct from rogue employees. Obviously, you’ve taken too many hits to the head if you can’t figure it out….
Blah, blah, blah
Sit in that recliner and stay safe – there’s a big boy world outside your door
Have you ever had a job, or are you some naive high schooler? You can’t even understand workman’s comp….
There is a difference between the roughness there can be in life, and in being stupid. A person should avoid harm to themselves, if possible. It is certainly much nicer getting old without injuries, than with.
Taking a few bumps in pee wee football doesn’t count
“Getting your ‘bell rung’ isn’t specific to the NFL!
I’ve had mine chimed a number of times”
Let me just say that after reading your posts here, I believe it.
Some of live life hard and some of you live in moms basement until you inherit the house and can move upstairs
A good way to live in your mom’s basement is getting substantial brain damage from repeated blows to the head. Hard to keep a job, and you’ll need mom around to bathe you.
Moms dead – long ago
I tend to myself up here on the mountain, in the snow, doing chores every day with a torn bicep and mostly torn rotator cuff. Drop, haul, cut my own wood then every morning I split and stack a few days worth in the building as that’s my heat and some days used to cook.
I’m the guy feeds and waters the livestock every morning as it’s been low 20s days and mid teens at night.
My power is solar and my town runs are twice a month as I’m the ‘guy that enjoys being around c**ts’ like you
I have to apologize for this posting – I forgot it’s the season to be nice and hospitable!
Not meant to offend or demean.
I’m happy for your lifestyle and accept your apology. I wasn’t accusing you of living in mom’s basement, just that head trauma can lead to severe living restrictions.
I appreciate the damage NFL players do to their bodies, and if we need to protect their noggin to have a life after football, I believe we need to be respectful of that.
Merry Christmas
What was wrong with player safety in the 60’s-70’s?
You are straight up delusional
The average lifespan of a player from the ’60s and ’70s was much shorter than it is now. Alot of guys in the trenches didn’t make it out of their late 40s-early 50s. Now, the scientists know why….
Are you kidding??
What was wrong with drunk driving being a misdemeanor in the 1970s?
Just as dumb a comment.
unreal account name lol
Ask him if he did anything wrong and wait for the answer…
Seriously, dude’s like, “I’m going to try to injure you and hope you don’t get injured.” Guy’s a total doosh….
Should have been suspended for the rest of the season.
Cheap hits to defenseless players aren’t tough.
The hockey rule. Hurt somebody? You’re out until the guy you injured can play again.
This ain’t an NHL blog!
I imagine Goodell will consider implementing the hockey rule when the NFL schedule is expanded to 82 games a season 🙂
That’s not a hockey rule!
The hockey rule is, you take a run at our guy, we’ll take a run at your’s.
That’s not a hockey rule!
The hockey rule is–they pull a knife, you pull a gun. They send one of yours to the hospital, you send one of theirs to the morgue.
I don’t think that’s reasonable. Not that I’m condoning Al-Shaair’s actions here, but shouldn’t we be consistent in penalizing players based on their actions, rather than the outcome?
The same hit that might take a player out for one week might happen to end the career of another. I believe consistency is warranted
Meant as a reply to the “hockey rule” comment
When it comes to dirty hits such as this one, I don’t believe any type of consistency is warranted. There was absolutely no reason for him to hit a defenseless Lawrence the way he did. So yeah, if that hit ended Trevor’s career -and Al-Shaair’s, as a result- that’s the price he pays. The goal is to dissuade guys from doing this type of thing. As they say, play stupid games, win stupid prizes.
Ridiculous on every level.
Even if it was a late hit, his forearm was locked & loaded as if he was channeling Jack “They Call Me Assassin” Tatum. The penalty doesn’t come close to fitting the crime of a repeat offender.
Ryan blaming Lawrence is the cherry on the sundae
Repeat Offender; obviously trynna hurt Lawrence. Should have been a heavy fine and suspended for the remainder of the year ! I am happy that the Jaguars went after him.
Heavy fine and suspended for the year … this isn’t his first offense.
Well, at least the linebacker wasnt arrested. You guys will probably accept flag football when its implemented.
It’ll be fine. Most guys abide by the rules. Dirty players get punished and weeded out of the league….
Speaking of weed, he would have gotten a much harsher suspension for a J. The NFL is more concerned with pot than head hunters. I strongly am against ANY drugs by sports players, but the NFL has consistently shown that they are inconsistent.
I didn’t realize there wasn’t any type of middle ground between watching a dirty player and flag football; but if those are my only choices, then sure, flag football sounds great.
The Wife Beaters League has reached a new low for knuckle dragging behavior.
Now the GM chimes in with more defense of the hit?
Fine the franchise monetarily or a draft pick
Houston’s GM Nick Caserio used to work for the Foxboro Cheatriots. So did Tom “Double Dipper” Brady, who also defended Al-Shaair.
Jeys fan beyond obsessed with the Pats smh
Who cares what type of brutality game was played in 70s and 80s. In today’s world we have learned that type of play hurt players, ended careers and cost lives from brain injuries. Has no bearing on why he deserved more of a suspension than received.
What do you mean, who cares about a brutality type of game? Thats how the game was back then, the players and coaches knew the risks just like in todays game, where defenses can hardly do anything. The game is slowly dying because defenders have to quit tackling or hitting hard because they keep losing money and games out of their paychecks. Offensive players today are like the strippers at clubs who put their bodies in your face and touch all over you but you cant touch them back. The NFL smartly aims for the fantasy stat nerds, while bringing in the women and children. The fans who want big hits, strong tackling
defenses stopping offenses and non-basketball scoring games are left out in the cold, still hoping to watch games for gambling or entertainment reasons, knowing that the game they grew up watching, is only in collections and Youtube uploads.
It’s easy …you should just quit watching it if it is so bad now. Nobody forcing you
Brian slow down on the stat nerds. They need the proverbial strippers because mom has put a child block on their internet. These 20 something nerds living in mom’s basement need the titillation somehow.
Haha … I get it. I used to be one myself when players played every game, every week.
First time he’s ever been ejected from a game. First time he’s ever been suspended. And now he is the epitome of what’s wrong with the NFL according to this representative from the NFL.
Not arguing that punishment isn’t warranted. But this is clearly too much.
Now we’re learning Austin Ekeler has lost a portion of his memory after getting knocked cold on a kickoff return the Sunday before Thanksgiving. Ekeler’s been in concussion protocol since.
Football participation has been in decline on the grassroots/high school level and defending a headhunter like Al-Shaair can go a long way toward getting hte sport outlawed.
He might not have been suspended but has had two incidents this year. One a late hit out of bounds another for throwing punch. He is showing signs of dirty play. Needs to learn from these actions and play with respect to other players and game.
How much of the post-hit antics played a role in this suspension?
3 games is not enough
love to see the tough guys acting like they could take that hit, calling it a “flag football league” or a “soft league” for having zero tolerance about something like this.
I know for a face, if a big athlete cant take that hit without a reaction, trust me…you definitely wont.
And for the people who say “but I’m not an NFL player being payed millions”
That argument is completely stupid, for one, you’re not out there risking your body everyday, as soon as they would put you out on the field, you wouldn’t want to go back out there.
Your full of sh*t, Femboygirl … I never said I could take hits like that. I have commented numerous times on how THE GAME USE TO BE. Rodney Harrison implemented the rules changes in the mid-2000s. I paid to see that violence and can say what the hell I want.
@brian
Who said I was talking about you?
Also, never said you couldn’t say anything you want, but I can too.
Im SOOOO sorry I hurt your feelings!
All I was saying was, A lot of people call the league soft, yet talk crap about the players on line, who are out their almost every week, while they sit on their couch, dreaming about making it past high school.
Youre right, Femboy … no problem, though I felt you were attacking me and I got out of line.
No harm, no foul.
I will admit, I love to stir the pot and its heated on this thread … haha
@brian
It’s alright dude don’t worry!
I do somewhat the same in the MLB trade rumors threads lol.
trust me, nothing can hurt my feelings.