Houston’s Azeez Al-Shaair has been suspended by the NFL for three games after an incident occurred where he reportedly hit Jacksonville’s Trevor Lawrence on the head. It led to a concussion. As Lawrence initiated a slide, Al-Shaair raised his forearm, which hurt the QB. NFL Vice President of Football Operations Jon Runyan was quite unhappy with the incident as he announced Azeez Al-Shaair’s punishment.

In his letter to Al-Shaair, he wrote, “Video shows you striking the head/neck area of Jaguars’ quarterback Trevor Lawrence after he clearly goes down in a feet-first slide… You led with your forearm and helmet and delivered a forceful blow to the head/neck area of your opponent when you had time and space to avoid such contact.”

As per reports, Al-Shaair is appealing the suspension. While this may take time, the violent incident has brought other issues to the surface.

Former NFL cornerback Richard Sherman called out the NFL for not helping the defenders enough. He reposted a clip on X from a preseason game that took place between the Chiefs and the Lions in 2023. He captioned it, “Now defenders are supposed to distinguish the difference in split seconds.”

Well, that short video had Patrick Mahomes scrambling for some rushing yards during the third quarter. It had a Lions defender trying to bring Mahomes down while the other collided with him elbow-first. Those disruptions eventually got Mahomes bundled before he could complete his run. What’s the problem with that?

When QBs slide late, that puts a lot of onus on the defenders. But football fans have also noted that Patrick Mahomes tends to fake slides and give-ups which could confuse them. Then, let us not forget Kenny Pickett, who faked a slide in 2021 NCAA football, which resulted in a touchdown.

Such examples can be used to explain Lawrence’s hit. When defenders are running at full speed, they have to calculate if a QB is going to slide or fake it, and that could result in accidents. Though none of these excuses Al-Shaair’s situation as the contact didn’t seem accidental. Well, Sherman isn’t the only person who is willing to call out the NFL for protecting QBs. Just moments after Al-Shaair was banned for three games, his counterpart in New England also bashed the NFL for looking after the QBs more than other players.

Joining The Greg Hill Show, the Patriots LB Jahlani Tavai was asked about his thoughts about Trevor Lawrence‘s concussion. And the answer that Tavai gave could rub the QB community the wrong way. He stated, “I don’t like it. They are just so protected in this league. Back in the day, you could do whatever to a QB; you can dog-rag him whatever.”

But hey, back in the day, we didn’t have social media where people instantly watched the replays and gave their views online. Could it be possible that the league felt the pressure from fans and that could have resulted in Azeez Al-Shaair’s suspension?

One also can’t forget that his head-first tackle was indeed brutal. It even got Lawrence under the grasp of fencing response with both of his fists clenched tightly. However, the fans are also rallying behind the calls that suggest the NFL is protecting the QBs more than they should. And Patrick Mahomes got caught amidst all this!

Fans have had enough of the NFL protecting QBs like Patrick Mahomes!

Under Sherman’s post calling out the NFL, fans began talking about Mahomes and how he should be punished for faking slides.

• “This should be a 15-yard penalty on Mahomes!”
• “Pat has been doing this all year. He’s about to get lit tf up one of these times.” 

Here’s the thing: Fake sliding is not allowed in College Football. The rule is simple: “Any time a ball carrier simulates or fakes a feet-first slide, the ball should be declared dead by the on-field officials at that point.” The reason behind this rule was to avoid situations like the Azeez Al-Shaair-Trevor Lawrence one. However, the NFL doesn’t have any such rules against fake sliding.

And amid all the heat that the Chiefs QB was receiving, Josh Allen was also pulled into the discussion.

• “Pat and Josh are the biggest abusers of this move. No idea what defenders are supposed to do.”
• “Mahomes is only one who actually does this.”

Regardless, Houston Texan HC DeMeco Ryans has defended his player Azeez Al-Shaair over the unfortunate incident. He stated: “A lot of the quarterbacks are trying to take advantage of the rule where they slide late and they try to get an extra yard. A lot of onus is on the defender…you don’t know what a guy is thinking. You don’t know if a guy is staying up, if he’s continuing to run. You don’t know and you get a late slide and you hit the guy.”

And it seems like a lot of fans would agree with him.

• “Imo still blow him up, it’ll be a dirty hit and gotta accept it, but QBs won’t do it again if they get knocked into January.”

Coming back to Azeez Al-Shaair, if the suspension is upheld, he won’t be allowed to return to play until after the team’s Christmas Day game against the Baltimore Ravens. The player has a base salary of $1.5 million this season and this incident could cost him about $265,000. This is the third time that Al-Shaair has been punished by the league this season.

It seems this cold war between the NFL and defenders is only going to expand further. And the recent suspension of Azeez Al-Shaair only instigates more fire into those conversations. What do you think?