Tennessee Titans Roster Profile: LB Azeez Al-Shaair

Welcome to Music City Miracles’ Tennessee Titans 2023 Roster Profile! Between now and August, MCM will feature more than two dozen talents. The main goal is to highlight underrated contributors and key rotational players. We’ll throw in the odd superstar or roster-bubble player, but we’re mainly focused on spotlighting the middle of the roster. That’s where key depth helps define a roster’s ceiling.

Today, we’re analyzing inside linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair.

Basic Info

Height: 6-foot-2

Weight: 228

College: Florida Atlantic

Entered League: Undrafted free agent at the conclusion of the 2019 NFL Draft

Experience: 5

Years with team: 1

Contract Status

“Azeez Al-Shaair signed a 1 year, $5,000,000 contract with the Tennessee Titans, including a $3,170,000 signing bonus, $4,250,000 guaranteed, and an average annual salary of $5,000,000. In 2023, Al-Shaair will earn a base salary of $1,080,000 and a signing bonus of $3,170,000, while carrying a cap hit of $2,243,411 and a dead cap value of $4,250,000.” Spotrac

The Good

New general manager Ran Carthon signed Azeez Al-Shaair to a one-year prove-it contract in unrestricted free agency to be Tennessee’s new No. 1 inside linebacker. Al-Shaair is an uber-athletic linebacker that’s the leading candidate to wear the green dot on his helmet for the 2023 Titans defense.

Al-Shaair was limited to a backup role with the San Francisco 49ers. He was stuck behind some excellent linebackers such as Fred Warner and Dre Greenlaw. Al-Shaair was extremely productive when on the field.

Al-Shaair played 314 defensive snaps in 2022. He recorded 44 total tackles and 10 stops. Al-Shaair earned a run-stopping grade of 79.7 from Pro Football Focus.

Injury forced Al-Shaair into a larger role in 2021. He started a career-high 13 games for the 49ers. The results were outstanding with Al-Shaair accumulating 102 tackles and 2.0 sacks.

The Bad

The Titans are counting on Al-Shaair to be a 17-game starter for the first time in his career. Al-Shaair has massive shoes to fill as Carthon decided to move on from David Long Jr. and Zach Cunningham earlier this offseason. Al-Shaair’s performance ceiling is a bit of an unknown after spending his four-year career in San Francisco as a rotational and backup defender.

2023 Outlook:

Al-Shaair will aim to parlay his one-year contract with the Titans into a bigger payday next summer, whether in Tennessee or elsewhere. He’s penciled into a starting role with either Monty Rice or Jack Gibbens flanking him. Carthon decided to roll the dice on Al-Shaair’s abilities. We’ll see if that gamble pays off.