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Eagle-eyed NFL fans took aim at Azeez Al-Shaair on Sunday night after spotting a controversial political message on his cleats for the Texans-Jaguars game. The linebacker was already in the bad books of many for a brutal hit on quarterback Trevor Lawrence, that led to him being ejected from the game. And now more fans are piling in, after noticing a bold ‘Free Palestine’ message on his cleats.
The Tampa-born NFL star, 27, had ‘Free’ written on the outside of his cleats in red and green Palestine colors, with messages written on the side. On one cleat, it read: ‘Surely to Allah we belong and to him we will all return,’ while the other said: ‘At least 41,788 Palestinians killed. 10,000+ estimated to be under the rubble. 96,794 wounded.’
Al-Shaair is a practicing Muslim, and he joined the Texans in March on a three-year, $34million contract. Taking to X, many NFL fans piled in on the player for using the sport to share his political views, with one writing: ‘Ooh now I really hate him.’
Another urged the NFL to suspend him, but others defended him and wrote: ‘Religion of peace.’ Yet more fans brought up Nick Bosa’s recent fine for wearing a Donald Trump MAGA hat and speculated over the punishment Al-Shaair will face for his own political message.
The linebacker first hit the headlines on Sunday for a brutal hit on Jaguars QB Lawrence, that left him motionless on the turf and sparked a huge brawl between the teams. Lawrence was running for a first down and slid to give himself up on the play. Al-Shaair did not pull up and made a vicious hit to the upper body and helmet of the quarterback.
As soon as the hit was delivered, tight end Evan Engram is the first to start shoving Al-Shaair, with several others from both teams involved in the scrum seconds later. Lawrence was eventually carted off and alert, while Al-Shaair was ejected from the game.
Lawrence was ruled out of the game soon after with a concussion with Mac Jones replacing him at quarterback. Jacksonville’s Jarrian Jones was also ejected from the game, while Engram was assessed a 15-yard penalty for being the first to engage Al-Shaair in a fight.
Al-Shaair needed to be removed from the field by stadium security and Texans’ personnel after fans at EverBank Stadium in Jacksonville pelted him with garbage. Before leaving the field, Al-Shaair got into a shouting match with Jaguars offensive lineman Brandon Scherff that nearly led to a second brawl.
‘Trevor Lawrence suffered a significant traumatic brain injury (#TBI) here. He shows a clear “fencing response”, which means he is knocked out with a #concussion & deeper parts of his brain are malfunctioning. Wishing him the best,’ said Chris Nowinski, founder of the Concussion Legacy Foundation, on social media.
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