Texans to sign former Titans LB Azeez Al-Shaair

The Titans lost their best inside linebacker to Monday’s free agency period. What now?

The Houston Texans are signing former Tennessee Titans linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair, according to widespread national reports. Al-Shaair is getting a lucrative three-year deal worth $34 million with Tennessee’s AFC South rival Texans. Al-Shaair represents the second former Titan to land in Houston on Monday, following in the footsteps of Denico Autry.

The Titans signed Al-Shaair to a one-year prove-it deal worth $5 million last offseason. Al-Shaair maximized his opportunity by totaling a career-high 163 tackles, the fifth-best mark in the league. Al-Shaair has now parlayed that performance into a multi-year deal worth nearly $12 million annually.

Titans general manager Ran Carthon possesses a relationship with Al-Shaair dating back to their shared days with the San Francisco 49ers. It wasn’t enough to keep Al-Shaair in Tennessee. Al-Shaair will reunite with Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans, who was his defensive coordinator in San Francisco.

Al-Shaair’s confirmed departure leaves the Titans ultra-thin at inside linebacker. Jack Gibbens (an ERFA) and Otis Reese IV are their current starters. Both flashed at times throughout the 2023 campaign, but Carthon must add at least one, if not two, starting-caliber linebackers. It’s not a deep group in free agency. Patrick Queen remains the prized possession on the market. Queen worked with new Titans defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson last season, but Paul Kuharsky is reporting that the Titans aren’t in on Queen.