One of the best finds for the Tennessee Titans in free agency last offseason was linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair, who proved to be effective in his first season as a full-time starter.
Al-Shaair’s 163 tackles were the fifth-most in the NFL, and he posted good to respectable Pro Football Focus grades in run defense (73.7) and coverage (61.3). Adding to that, he proved to be a leader in the locker room.
Knowing the kind of impact he had, PFF’s Brad Spielberger believes Al-Shaair is the one pending free agent the Titans can’t afford to lose. Here’s what he had to say about that:
The Titans don’t have many pending free agents to be overly concerned about losing as they undergo the rebuild they should have jump-started last offseason, but executive vice president/general manager Ran Carthon was wise to recruit Al-Shaair to follow him from the San Francisco 49ers to Tennessee last offseason.
Over the past two seasons, Al-Shaair’s 78.3 run-defense grade is a top-25 mark among off-ball linebackers and his 9.6% run-stop rate placed in the top 15.
The only competition Al-Shaair has for this distinction is defensive lineman Denico Autry, who has been sensational for Tennessee over three seasons.
However, considering the respective age difference between Al-Shaair (27 in August) and Autry (34 in July), combined with the fact that the Titans are set to rebuild, it can certainly be argued that the former is more important because he can be a long-term solution at his position.
The Titans should absolutely be interested in keeping Al-Shaair, who has expressed his desire to return to Nashville. I fully expect that to happen, assuming the asking price isn’t outrageous.
If the Titans fail to keep Al-Shaair, they’ll have two starting spots to fill, as the team should be looking to upgrade from Jack Gibbens, who is better suited as a backup.
