On Tuesday, Texans G.M. Nick Caserio took the rare step of calling out the NFL for the three-game suspension of linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair. But Caserio has a point.
The league made a P.R. push on Tuesday morning, with a press release and excerpts of the letter to Al-Shaair from Jon Runyan that paint the player as a villain.
Consider this excerpt from the Runyan letter: “Your lack of sportsmanship and respect for the game of football and all those who play, coach, and enjoy watching it, is troubling and does not reflect the core values of the NFL. . . . Your continued disregard for NFL playing rules puts the health and safety of both you and your opponents in jeopardy and will not be tolerated.”
“For the league to make some of the commentary that they made about lack of sportsmanship, lack of coachability, lack of paying attention to the rules,” Caserio said Tuesday. “Quite frankly, it’s embarrassing. . . . The picture that’s been painted about Azeez, his intentions, who he is as a person — quite frankly, it’s bullshit.”
Again, he has a point. The league wants to make Al-Shaair look bad, because it wants the suspension to look like the right decision.
As noted during PFT Live, the NFL’s press release mentions that Al-Shaair has “had multiple offenses for personal fouls and sportsmanship-related rules violations in recent seasons.” But the statement doesn’t mention any of them.
Why not list them all? Don’t tell me he’s a bad guy. List for me the bad things you think he’s done.
Meanwhile, it’s still not clear what he’s specifically being suspended for. The NFL’s press release and the Runyan letter refer to Al-Shaair’s history, the hit on Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence, the first fight after the hit, and the second fight. But there’s no effort to tie any specific portion of the punishment to any specific act of misconduct.
