Texans linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair has been one of the big storylines in the NFL over the last week after his illegal hit on Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence that the league deemed was worthy of a three-game suspension.
Al-Shaair, in a not-so-subtle social media post, said he’s now ready to be the “villain.”
While the linebacker had appealed the three-game ban, the NFL upheld the suspension on Wednesday.
Shortly after the news broke, Al-Shaair posted a message on X.
“IF YOU WANT ME TO BE YOUR VILLAIN, ILL BE YOUR VILLAIN! SEE YOU SOON,” he wrote, including middle finger and jester emojis.
Also included in the post were four images: one of him entering the field with Houston, another of a cleat that had “free” written on it, one with the Joker from the Joaquin Phoenix films and a picture of a quote that read, “There’s beauty in being rejected, misunderstood, unseen and unprotected by people.”
The suspension and subsequent reaction all come from a play in the second quarter of the Texans-Jaguars matchup on Sunday after Lawrence scrambled out of the pocket and went down to slide in order to avoid getting hit.
Instead, though, Al-Shaair came in and connected his forearm with Lawrence’s head, which concussed the quarterback and led to both teams fighting on the field.
Al-Shaair was then ejected from the game for the violent hit on the signal-caller and has been widely criticized for the play.
On Monday, he apologized to Lawrence on his Instagram story.
“My goal is to hit you as hard as I can then I pray you’re still able to get up and play the next play. And when the game is over go home to your family unharmed because it’s not personal it’s just competition!” he posted.
“We both are trying to do the same thing which is provide for our families! I genuinely didn’t see him sliding until it was too late. And it all happens in the blink of an eye. To Trevor I genuinely apologize to you for what ended up happening.”
Lawrence was placed on injured reserve Wednesday, and NFL.com reported that he also will have what is likely season-ending surgery on his shoulder in an unrelated injury.
