Azeez Al-Shaair

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Azeez Al-Shaair
Al-Shaair with the Tennessee Titans in 2023
No. 0 – Houston Texans
PositionLinebacker
Roster statusActive
Personal information
Born (1997-08-04) August 4, 1997 (age 29)
Tampa, Florida, U.S.
Height6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Weight228 lb (103 kg)
Career information
High schoolHillsborough (Tampa)
CollegeFlorida Atlantic (2015–2018)
NFL draft2019: undrafted
Career history
Awards and highlights
  • First-team All C-USA (2017)
Career NFL statistics as of Week 7, 2025
Total tackles470
Sacks6.0
Forced fumbles5
Fumble recoveries5
Interceptions2
Pass deflections19
Stats at Pro Football Reference
Coaching profile at Pro Football ReferenceLua error in Module:EditAtWikidata at line 29: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).

Azeez Al-Shaair (/ælˈʃaɪər/ al-SHIRE, Arabic: عزيز الشاعر, born August 4, 1997) is an American professional football linebacker for the Houston Texans of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Florida Atlantic Owls, where he received the First-team All C-USA award in 2017.

Early life

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Al-Shaair was born in Tampa, Florida. As a young child, he moved back and forth between Tampa and Saudi Arabia, where his father worked as an English instructor, until his parents divorced. He lived in Section 8 and became homeless as a sophomore in high school after his home burned down. He commuted two hours by bus from a motel to Hillsborough High School, where he played football.[1] As a senior, he made 126 tackles with 6.5 sacks, two interceptions, three forced fumbles and three fumble recoveries and also blocked six field goals and a blocked punt and was named first-team All-County.[2] Al-Shaair committed to play college football at Florida Atlantic University going into his senior year, but continued to go on recruiting visits in order to help feed his family.[3]

College career

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Al-Shaair before the 2018 FAU season.

Al-Shaair was a four-year starter at linebacker for the Florida Atlantic Owls. As a freshman, Al-Shaair was named to the Conference USA All-Freshman team and named a Freshman All-American after recording a team-leading 94 tackles (7.5 for loss), 1.5 sacks, two passes broken up and a forced fumble.[4] He again led the Owls in tackles as a sophomore with 113 (12 for loss) and returned an interception for a touchdown and was named honorable mention All-Conference USA.[5] As a junior, Al-Shaair led Conference USA with 147 tackles (11 for loss) along with 2.5 sacks, four passes defensed and a forced fumble and was named first-team all conference. He entered his senior year on the Butkus Award watchlist but tore his ACL in an October practice, ending his final season after six games.[6][7]

Professional career

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Pre-draft measurables
Height Weight Arm length Hand span Bench press
6 ft 0+5⁄8 in
(1.84 m)		 234 lb
(106 kg)		 32+3⁄8 in
(0.82 m)		 9+1⁄2 in
(0.24 m)		 16 reps
All values from NFL Combine[8][9]

San Francisco 49ers

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Al-Shaair was signed by the San Francisco 49ers as an undrafted free agent on April 27, 2019.[10] Al-Shaair made his NFL debut in the season-opener against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, playing exclusively on special teams and making two tackles in the 31-17 road victory.[11] The 49ers reached Super Bowl LIV, but lost to the Kansas City Chiefs by a score of 31–20.[12] He did not appear in any postseason games. Al-Shaair played in 15 games with four starts as a rookie, making 18 tackles.[13]

In Week 4 against the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday Night Football in 2020, Al-Shaair recorded his first career interception off a pass thrown by Carson Wentz during the 25–20 loss.[14]

Al-Shaair entered the 2021 season as a starting linebacker for the 49ers. He started 13 games, finishing second on the team with 102 tackles, along with two sacks, five passes defensed, an interception, a forced fumble and two fumble recoveries.[15]

On March 15, 2022, the 49ers placed a second-round restricted free agent tender on Al-Shaair.[16] He was placed on injured reserve with an MCL sprain on October 3, 2022.[17] He was activated on November 12.[18]

Tennessee Titans

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On March 20, 2023, Al-Shaair signed a one-year contract with the Tennessee Titans.[19] He started all 17 games and finished fifth in the league with 163 tackles.[20][21]

Houston Texans

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Al-Shaair (#0) with the Houston Texans in 2024.

On March 15, 2024, Al-Shaair signed a three-year, $34 million contract with the Houston Texans.[22] Following Week 3, he was fined $11,000 for punching Chicago Bears running back, Roschon Johnson, despite Al-Shaair not being ejected from the game.[23] He was issued a second fine for $11,255 after a late hit out of bounds on Tennessee Titans running back, Tony Pollard.[24]

On December 1, 2024, Al-Shaair delivered an illegal hit to Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback, Trevor Lawrence, after the latter had slid.[25] Lawrence was ruled out for the rest of the game with a concussion and Al-Shaair was ejected. A fight erupted between Al-Shaair and several Jaguar players, with Jacksonville cornerback, Jarrian Jones, also getting ejected.[26][27] Al-Shaair publicly apologized via social media for the hit the next day.[24] Two days after the game, Al-Shaair was suspended for three games with Jon Runyan, the NFL's Vice President of the Policy and Rules, writing in the suspension letter that Al-Shaair's "continued disregard for NFL playing rules puts the health and safety of both [him] and [his] opponents in jeopardy and will not be tolerated."[28]

NFL career statistics

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Legend
Bold Career high

Regular season

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Year Team Games Tackles Fumbles Interceptions
GP GS Cmb Solo Ast Sck FF FR Yds TD Int Yds Avg Lng TD PD
2019 SF 15 4 18 11 7 0.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0 0
2020 SF 16 5 35 22 18 0.0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0.0 0 0 2
2021 SF 13 13 102 58 44 2.0 1 2 12 0 1 24 24.0 24 0 5
2022 SF 12 9 44 20 24 0.0 0 1 5 0 0 0 0.0 0 0 0
2023 TEN 17 17 163 84 79 2.0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0 4
2024 HOU 11 11 70 45 25 2.0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0 4
Career 73 48 362 195 167 6.0 2 4 17 0 2 24 24.0 24 0 11

Postseason

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Year Team Games Tackles Fumbles Interceptions
GP GS Cmb Solo Ast Sck FF FR Yds TD Int Yds Avg Lng TD PD
2021 SF 3 1 13 7 6 0.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0 0
2022 SF 3 3 12 6 6 0.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0 0
Career 6 4 25 13 12 0.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0 0

Personal life

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Al-Shaair is a practicing Muslim and fasts during Ramadan, including when he was participating in FAU's summer practices.[29] Al-Shaair has been a vocal supporter of Palestine through their ongoing conflict with Israel. He has notably donned cleats with pro-Palestinian messages on them during games through the NFL's "My Cause, My Cleats" campaign.[30][31][32]

References

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