[VIP] Film Friday: Azeez Al-Shaair and Potential
An expanded role is on the table for Azeez Al-Shaair in Tennessee - what skills does he bring to this defense?
There’s one last free agent addition I want to get to before the regular season starts because it’s a big one. I put out a poll last week on Twitter X asking if you guys wanted me to write about Chris Moore or Azeez Al-Shaair. Honestly, I was going to be sly and pull a fast one on you guys and do them both last week so that I could focus on a 2024 Draft piece this week (Joe Milton eval coming soon), but life happens. I was without internet for the entirety of Thursday. It took me two hours to upload the eight minute Chris Moore film study I posted to YouTube last week from my mobile hot spot. Then, I had to deal with yet another family emergency on Sunday (that makes four on the year so far - loving 2023!). The next thing you know, a week has passed and I’m still trying to write about the guy that actually won that poll!
*sigh* Deep breaths. Al-Shaair is going to play a pivotal role on this defense in 2023. His signing goes along with the theme this offseason of ‘dudes looking for an expanded role bigger than the one they got at their last homes.’ Al-Shaair was lost in the shuffle of the 49ers linebacking corps, but it’s the rare case in which that might not necessarily be an indictment of his ability. The 49ers have two of the best linebackers in the NFL in Fred Warner (who I think is #1, the best in the league right now) and Dre Greenlaw. It’s similar to the Andre Dillard conversation with Jordan Mailata, right?
The Titans seem to have their two inside linebacker spots with specific designated responsibilities - when I broke this down a few weeks ago here on Stacking The Inbox, I framed it like one guy is stuffing up run lanes, tracking the running back, and just generally getting in the way of everyone. The other guy is dropping into coverage, playing sideline to sideline, and occasionally rushing the passer. The latter is where I see Al-Shaair. He should be the David Long Jr. to Jack Gibbens/Monty Rice’s Zach Cunningham.
So, to study a little bit of what Al-Shaair brings to the table, I fired up January’s wild card game against the Seattle Seahawks. Why this one? It’s simple - since he was a reserve, I wanted to find games that he played a higher percentage of the defensive snaps in. He played 50% in this game, and I wanted meaningful action….not the meaningless Week 18 contest against the Arizona Cardinals.