Azeez Al-Shaair has been the anchor of the Houston Texans’ defense through six games as the new commander and field general. Now, his status for the 2024 season is in jeopardy.
Al-Shaair suffered a knee injury in Week 6’s 41-21 victory over the New England Patriots. He tried to come back in during the fourth quarter, but Texans coach DeMeco Ryans elected to let him rest.
Will Al-Shaair suit up on Sunday at Lambeau Field when Houston takes on the Green Bay Packers at noon? Here’s everything you need to know about Agent Zero.
Azeez Al-Shaair’s injury update
Al-Shaair won’t play after missing practice throughout the week. While the knee injury isn’t supposed to keep the middle linebacker out long, he’ll miss at least one, if not two games until he’s back to full speed.
“We’ll see where our guys are this week with Azeez and Henry [To’oTo’o], see where they are,” Ryans said Monday.
How long will Al-Shaair be out?
There’s no timetable for the starter at the moment. If he practices even a limited capacity next week, he’ll probably take the field against the Indianapolis Colts. The same goes for To’oTo’o, who suffered a concussion late in the fourth quarter against New England and did not practice this week.
Texans depth chart
Houston’s linebacker depth remains a weakness entering Sunday’s matchup, largely due to injury. Starter Christian Harris has been on the injured reserve since the start of training camp and hasn’t been cleared to take reps at practice.
With both Al-Shaair and To’oT’o out for Sunday’s contest, Houston will turn to Neville Hewitt and Jake Hansen. The two are best known for their special teams ability over defensive reps, though Hewitt has been a roleplayer at times for the Texans over the previous two seasons.
In Sunday’s win over the Patriots, he finished with eight tackles and a tackle for loss. Hansen totaled two tackles.