The league has caught up to what Houston already knew. ESPN’s annual survey of executives, coaches and scouts, published Tuesday by Jeremy Fowler, ranked Azeez Al-Shaair the NFL’s No. 6 off-ball linebacker — the first time in seven professional seasons the Houston Texans defender has appeared in the rankings at all.
The vote was not close to a fluke. Al-Shaair appeared on all but one ballot, drew placements as high as No. 3, and inspired the survey’s most memorable scouting line. “He’s the Dennis Rodman of linebackers,” one NFL personnel evaluator told Fowler. “He gets in everyone’s head. He can run all day and can play every down.”
The production case is specific. Al-Shaair’s nine passes defended last season were the most by a Texans player with 100 or more tackles since Brian Cushing had 10 in 2009, per ESPN, and he added two interceptions. The scheme explains the opportunity: because Houston’s front four generates pressure without extra rushers, the defense blitzes sparingly and leaves Al-Shaair free to patrol the middle of the field and finish plays in the run game. The franchise paid for that fit with a three-year, $54 million extension.
The recognition also completes a picture for the defense as a whole. The same ESPN survey series ranked Will Anderson Jr. third and Danielle Hunter sixth among edge rushers last week. Houston now has league-wide, top-10 validation at two levels of a defense that carries its contention case, with the secondary’s turn still to come. For a team whose championship math starts with getting stops, that is the core holding its value.
Training camp opens later this month, and Al-Shaair enters it at 28 with the middle of the defense unquestionably his.
The fantasy note here belongs to IDP players: Al-Shaair’s every-down role, tackle volume and coverage production make him a high-end linebacker option in those formats, and nothing about Houston’s scheme suggests his snap share shrinks. In standard offense-only leagues he has no direct value, though a defense this stout keeps the Texans’ team unit among the better defense/special teams picks on the board.
