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When the Tennessee Titans signed cornerback Sean Murphy-Bunting and linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair in free agency, the team brought both to Nashville on the same commercial flight.
The only problem was there were no first class seats left for the former, which meant Al-Shaair would’ve had to sit by himself.
After offering to give up his seat entirely to his new teammate, Al-Shaair decided to join Murphy-Bunting in coach, which also led to the new Titans defenders bonding during the flight.
“He actually was in first class — I should’ve took his seat actually, that’s what I should’ve done — he came and said I’m going to sit with you,” Murphy-Bunting said, per Jim Wyatt of Titans Online.
“We sat there and we talked the whole flight back and I don’t think we looked at our phones one time… But it’s been more of a relationship built. I feel like he’s a brother and I haven’t even played with him yet or been around him enough yet. It’s just real, you know it’s real.”
Al-Shaair wanted to make it clear he is not “bourgeois” and did not pay for the first-class ticket. Instead, the difference in seating between the two new Titans was simply a result of Murphy-Bunting signing later and there not being enough seats upfront when the team booked the flight.
“I promise you I did not pay for that flight,” he said with a smile. “That was per the Titans. The only reason why Sean wasn’t in first class was because he signed a little later, so they had to find him a flight last minute, otherwise he probably would’ve been sitting right next to me.”
“You can meet real genuine people, you can feel that energy and that’s what I felt from Sean right off the bat,” Al-Shaair added.
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