One of the Tennessee Titans’ most exciting moves of free agency thus far was luring linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair away from the San Francisco 49ers.
Al-Shaair is a high-upside defender who was simply stuck behind two talented studs atop the depth chart in Fred Warner and Dre Greenlaw.
New general manager Ran Carthon saw first hand how underutilized the Florida Atlantic product was in San Francisco, and he seemingly made Al-Shaair a priority to target once he hit the open market.
Peter King of NBC Sports recently provided some insight on why he thinks this is a good fit for all parties involved, and even called Al-Shaair “one of my favorite players.”
He’s (Azeez) a little light at 228, but Azeez Al-Shaair is Mike Vrabel’s kind of sideline-to-sideline linebacker and will play as many special teams snaps as Tennessee wants. He’s one of my favorite players and should be just entering his prime.
It’s funny King mentions Al-Shaair’s weight, something that was the topic of conversation during his introductory press conference, where he had some fun with Paul Kuharsky after he presented the question.
“Do I want to be heavier? Well, hopefully I could be heavy but just not like you,” he joked with Kuharsky. “I’m just playing. I’m giving you a hard time.
“No, honestly, I feel pretty comfortable about where I am. I’m playing around like 227, 225. I prefer to be up probably two or three pounds at most. But I feel like my perfect weight for me is like 228, so my goal is to be like 230 going into training camp because you usually shed a couple.”
The former 49er is coming off a season in which he produced a total of 25 tackles over 313 defensive snaps on the year.
#Titans Azeez Al-Shaair one year, $5M base value; $4.25M gtd, $3.17M signing bonus, salary $1.08M (gtd), $44,117 per game active roster bonus, $1M playtime-Pro Bowl incentive; 2024-2027 void if on roster 23rd day before 1st day 2024 league year
— Aaron Wilson (@AaronWilson_NFL) March 19, 2023
Despite his limited playing time, Al-Shaair made an impact when he was on the field. The Florida native finished the season with an impressive pass-rush grade of 83.0 and a run defense grade of 79.7, per Pro Football Focus.
The Titans’ newest linebacker‘s best season came in 2021 when he recorded 102 tackles, nine tackles for loss, and one interception over 13 starts.
Al-Shaair will now have his chance to prove that he’s capable of being a full-time starter in Tennessee, where he could be in line for a significant payday by year’s end if everything goes to plan.