Houston Texans linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair was suspended three games by the NFL on Tuesday for his late hit on Trevor Lawrence on Sunday that left the Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback with a concussion and sparked a brawl between the two teams, the league announced.
In the second quarter of the Texans’ 23-20 win, Lawrence scrambled before sliding on a second-and-7 play. With the slide already in progress, Al-Shaair went in on a tackle leading with his forearm, resulting in Lawrence’s head slamming against the grass at EverBank Field. Jaguars tight end Evan Engram shoved Al-Shaair after the play, and a brawl between the two teams ensued.
Al-Shaair and Jaguars cornerback Jarrian Jones, who left the bench and threw a punch, were both ejected, while Engram was flagged for a personal foul. Before Al-Shaair left the field, he got into a confrontation with Jaguars offensive guard Brandon Scherff and had to be held back by Texans teammates.
Lawrence was carted off and ruled out for the remainder of the game, though he wrote on social media after the game that he was ‘home and feeling better.’
On Monday, Al-Shaair apologized to Lawrence in a post on social media.
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‘I would never want to see any player hurt because of a hit I put on them especially one that’s deemed ‘late’ or ‘unnecessary,” Al-Shaair wrote. ‘To the rest of his teammates I can definitely understand you having his back and defending him in a situation like that.’
In the league’s suspension letter, NFL vice president of football operations Jon Runyan pointed to Al-Shaair’s past personal fouls and called Sunday’s hit ‘a play that the League considers unacceptable and a serious violation of the playing rules.’
“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,’ Runyan wrote. ‘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.”
Texans general manager Nick Caserio offered a passionate defense of Al-Shaair in a news conference Tuesday, saying the linebacker ‘represents everything that we want this program to be about.’ He also criticized the NFL for its approach to issuing punishments for on-field infractions.
‘I’d say in this situation, I mean quite frankly there’s no consistency at all relative to the level of discipline that’s been handed down,’ Caserio said, pointing to the lack of a suspension for Detroit Lions defensive back Brian Branch after an ejection as well as Los Angeles Chargers safety Derwin James receiving merely a one-game suspension earlier this year.
‘For the league to make some of the commentary … about lack of sportsmanship, lack of coachability, lack of paying attention to the rules, quite frankly it’s embarrassing,’ Caserio added.
Ryans said after the game that while the hit was ‘unfortunate’ and ‘not what we’re coaching,’ he did not believe it was representative of Al-Shaair as a player. Jaguars coach Doug Pederson called the move ‘a play that has no business in our league.’
Multiple players took issue with Al-Shaair’s actions, with Engram saying after the game that the hit was ‘dirty,’ while defensive end Josh Hines-Allen labeling it ‘stupid.’
Al-Shaair was at the center of another controversy in Week 2 when he hit Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams on the sideline as the rookie was running out of bounds. Several Bears players came to Williams’ defense, and Al-Shaair punched running back Roschon Johnson in the facemask. The sixth-year linebacker was issued an $11,817 fine for the play.
Al-Shaair, 27, signed a three-year, $27 million contract with the Texans this offseason and was named a team captain for 2024. An undrafted free agent out of Florida Atlantic in 2019, he latched on with the San Francisco 49ers and later became a starter. He spent last season with the Tennessee Titans.
The Texans are on a bye before returning to action against the Miami Dolphins on Dec. 15.
This story has been updated with new information.