NASHVILLE – New Titans linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair’s path to the NFL – and through life – wasn’t an easy one.
Al-Shaair grew up in a family of nine. His mother, Naadhirah, worked hard to make ends meet. At one point, things got so difficult the family was forced to move into their grandmother’s home in Tampa, Fla.
Things would get even tougher. A house fire uprooted the family, sending them from place to place. Eventually the family moved into a long-stay motel, where Al-Shaair oftentimes slept on the floor. He sometimes ate just one meal a day, and he’d go to bed dreaming of better days ahead.
“I remember I used to close my eyes when I was a child, and we were staying in that motel and I would watch the draft and every time somebody would get up and say, ‘With the something pick of the NFL Draft, they select’ I would just close my eyes and say my name,” Al-Shaair said. “I think my whole life I thought that’s what was going to be for me.”
Al-Shaair made it, even though it wasn’t as he’d imagined. While he wasn’t drafted – he was signed by the 49ers as an undrafted free agent in 2019 – he established himself while playing in college at Florida Atlantic, and then made a name for himself while playing the past four years in San Francisco.
Al-Shaair signed with the Titans earlier this week, and he’s now ready to make an impact in Tennessee.
“At the end of the day,” he said, “I can’t write a better story than God can have for me. I always say it’s God’s timing, because at the end of the day it’s going to happen when it’s supposed to happen. I wouldn’t change anything that’s happened to me up to this point, because I am exactly where I am supposed to be. I couldn’t write it any better.”
Over the past four seasons, Al-Shaair played in 56 games, with 31 starts, for the 49ers. He totaled 199 tackles, two sacks, 11 tackles for loss, two interceptions, seven passes defensed, two forced fumbles and three fumble recoveries from 2019-2022.
His best season in San Francisco…
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