When the NFL introduced its three-game suspension of Texans linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair, the league made common reference to his “a number of offenses for private fouls and sportsmanship-related guidelines violations in current seasons.”
With lingering criticism of an appeals course of that lacked transparency — and that was tainted by an obvious battle of curiosity — the total historical past of Al-Shaair’s on-field infractions is rising, unofficially.
PFT has obtained the total checklist. There are 13, relationship again to 2020. Only seven of them resulted in fines.
Three occurred this 12 months. First, Al-Shaair engaged in a Week 2 sideline struggle towards the Bears. He was fined $11,817, and it was not appealed. Second, he hit Titans working again Tony Pollard out of bounds in Week 12. The $11,255 advantageous is pending. Another one occurred in the course of the Jaguars sport on Sunday. Al-Shaair was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct, however not fined. (At least not but.)
During the 2023 season, Al-Shaair was fined $13,934 for a blow to the top/neck of a quarterback. He additionally was fined $10,927 for a face masks foul.
During the 2022 season, Al-Shaair was fined $11,139 for preventing. (It was diminished on enchantment to $8,911.)
During the 2021 season, Al-Shaair was disciplined, with out an precise advantageous imposed, for 4 cases of unlawful use of the helmet. On one event, he was fined $41,200 to be used of helmet. (It was affirmed on enchantment.)
During the 2020 season, Al-Shaair was disciplined as soon as to be used of helmet, and not using a advantageous. On one other event that 12 months, he was fined $4,000 to be used of helmet. (The advantageous was diminished to $3,200 on enchantment.)
As to the seven cases on which Al-Shaair was disciplined to be used of helmet, he was fined solely twice. The lack of fines hints at a broader effort by the league, throughout that point interval, to aggressively implement the rule towards decreasing the helmet and making forcible contact with an opponent. Common sense means that, if Al-Shaair was the one one doing it, he would have been fined greater than two out of seven instances.
Common sense additionally means that the league is reeling a bit from the blowback to the Al-Shaair suspension, each from the Texans and elsewhere. But it’s deserved. Instead of merely specializing in the blatantly unlawful hit on Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence, the league has tried to color Al-Shaair as a villain.
Why not simply droop him for the hit, and not using a P.R. effort geared toward making him look worse? The hit speaks for itself. Late slide or not, Al-Shaair got here in scorching with a forearm to the top of Lawrence. Al-Shaair may have tried to keep away from Lawrence. Instead, Al-Shaair embraced the chance to make a Bednarik-style hit.
That ought to be sufficient for the suspension. The remainder of it’s simply noise. And now there’s extra noise, within the type of a historical past of self-discipline that appears so much worse on the floor than it in all probability is — particularly if the 2021 self-discipline (with out fines) factors to a broader philosophical challenge as to when and tips on how to punish gamers for hits which are inherent to taking part in soccer.
