Texans

The Texans signed LB Azeez Al-Shaair to a three-year, $54 million contract this offseason. Al-Shaair expressed his gratitude to the organization after ending his collegiate career with a torn ACL coming out of Florida Atlantic, while also having stints with the 49ers and Titans.  

“I’m truly, truly grateful,” Al-Shaair said, via Aaron Wilson. “It really does feel surreal. Everything that I went through to be at this point. I wanted to be here. I didn’t want to be anywhere else. I couldn’t see myself going anywhere else. I’m grateful to my agent, Jason Chayut for taking a chance on me back when I was coming out of college with a torn ACL and not pretty, not the hottest linebacker you want to get. He took a chance on me and we’ve worked together now going on eight years, four different contracts later. I see you like family. My family, they’re my support system and they love me regardless of how many tackles I make or what I do. I wouldn’t be able to be here without them.”

Al-Shaair reflected on his rough upbringing when he had to convince his mom to let him play football while they were living out of a motel. 

“When I was growing up in Tampa, I begged her to let me play and she didn’t want me to play because she didn’t want to see me get hurt,” Al-Shaair said. “We were staying in a motel at the time, ‘I promise you, if you let me play football I’m going to make it to the NFL, I’ll take care of our family one day.’ I had no clue if I was ever actually going to be able to do it or not. I never saw it done. I didn’t think stuff like that happened to people like me, in my life and my situation. So, to sit here years and years later, to be actually living that out is absolutely amazing. All praise to Allah. It’s nothing but God’s mercy and God’s grace that I’m ever here and able to say that.”

Al-Shaair said his goal in Houston was to become a “tone-setter” for their defense and connect with his teammates off the field. 

“I just wanted to be myself: be authentically me,” Al-Shaair said. “Obviously, as a football player on the field I try to show the abilities that I have to be a tone-setter. Get guys organized, lined up, communication, all those different things. Off the field, just connecting with the guys, understanding that the relationships that you build, it makes you push a lot harder when you are doing it for your brothers.”

Texans

• The Texans signed LB Azeez Al-Shaair to a three-year, $54 million contract that includes a $14 million signing bonus, $45.75 million in total guarantees, and $38.75 million fully guaranteed at signing.
• Al-Shaair’s contract includes fully guaranteed salaries of $1.75 million and $15 million in the first two years, while $8 million of his 2028 salary is guaranteed for injury at signing, and another $7 million becomes fully guaranteed if he is on the roster on the 5th day of the 2028 league year.
• The deal also includes a non-guaranteed $17 million salary in 2029, a $30 million void-year salary in 2030 for salary-cap purposes, and $34.25 million in new-money guarantees. (Wilson)

Titans

Titans first-round pass rusher Keldric Faulk is meeting his coaches and teammates and getting used to some of the new concepts in the team’s defensive playbook. His goal is to stay in the best condition possible ahead of his first NFL season.

“Just trying to get up to speed with all the vets that’ve been here,” Faulk said, via the team website. “It’s been good, though. Just really been trying to get used to a new city, new coaches, new defense to learn, new everything. Football is going to be football. It’s just going to the concepts of what you’re learning. Some of it is similar to what I did at Auburn. And it’s really just me trying to unlearn what I already did and just trying to relearn it again, just trying to get the concepts and the wording down from this staff and just try to get down what they’re trying to get me to learn to do. And just try to get myself in the best condition I possibly can and to keep my head down and just work. It’s a blessing that I got this far as far as my career, but this is not the top of it, it’s not the peak of it. I’ve still got a whole lot of work to do, so just keep my head down and work.”

• Titans OC Brian Daboll commented on each of the team’s quarterbacks, noting that Cam Ward has a professional approach, Mitchell Trubisky has familiarity with the system, and other players can benefit from the story of his NFL journey. Will Levis has picked up the system quickly and will have the chance for a fresh start, and Hendon Hooker looked good in his tryout for the team. (McCormick)