Texans linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair has been suspended for three games by the NFL after being ejected from last Sunday’s game agains the Jaguars for hitting quarterback Trevor Lawrence with a forearm to the head while Lawrence was sliding.
NFL vice president of football operations Jon Runyan wrote in the announcement that Al-Shaair’s “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.” During a press conference on Tuesday, Texans General Manager Nick Caserio took issue with the way Runyan characterized a player Caserio said he believes “represents everything we want this program to be about.”
“For the league to make some of the commentary that they made about lack of sportsmanship, lack of coachability, lack of paying attention to the rules,” Caserio said. “Quite frankly, it’s embarrassing. . . . The picture that’s been painted about Azeez, his intentions, who he is as a person — quite frankly, it’s bullshit.”
Caserio noted other cases where players have been ejected without being suspended and when players have been suspended for shorter terms despite longer histories of illegal hits. Al-Shaair has been fined on several occasions, but had never been suspended before Tuesday.
“One of the biggest issues that we sort of take umbrage with as a team and organizationally is a picture that’s been painted of Azeez,” Caserio said. “Quite frankly, it’s unfair. One of the biggest issues — I probably speak for a lot of teams, not only the Houston Texans. All teams ask for is consistency from the league and I’d say, in this situation, quite frankly there’s no consistency at all relative to the level of discipline that’s been handed down.”
Al-Shaair is expected to appeal the suspension.
