Jaguars and Trevor Lawrence get justice as NFL lays hammer on Azeez Al-Shaair

The Jacksonville Jaguars should be pleased with how things have developed following the dirty hit Azeez Al-Shaair laid on Trevor Lawrence in Week 13. The NFL stepped in a few days after the incident and has issued a sentence.

Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that the league has suspended Al-Shaair for three games, citing past offenses for personal fouls and sportsmanship-related rules violations for the length of the punishment.

NFL Vice President of Football Operations Jon Runyan shared the thought process that he used to decide Al-Shaair's punishment. Schefter posted it on Twitter.

Here's one of the most telling tidbits on Runyan's reasoning for handing the linebacker a three-games suspension.

"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. After the illegal hit, you proceeded to engage in a brawl, which you escalated when you pulled an opponent down to the ground by his facemask. "

Al-Shaair claims that he didn't want to hurt Lawrence, and you could make the case that defenders cannot simply change their trajectory when they already initiated the tackle and are playing at full speed. That said, his argument would be believable if it weren't for the fact that he was leading with his elbow/forearm as Runyan noted.

Moreover, Al-Shaair has a past history of playing dirty. Early in the season, the Texans faced the Chicago Bears in Week 2. The linebacker hit quarterback Caleb Williams. He also punched running back Roschon Johnson and subsequently got fined for it.

Surprisingly, not long after Schefter reported the news that Al-Shaair was getting suspended, the Texas defender said that he will appeal the league's decision.

Jaguars LB Foyesade Oluokun shares his perspective on the Azeez Al-Shaair hit

Jaguars linebacker Foyesade Oluokun reacted to the cheap shot. He avoided calling Azeez Al-Shair a dirty player but said that it was most definitely a dirty play.

"From both sides of the defensive player, he's running for the first down," Oluokun told the local media one day after the loss to the Houston Texans. "I can see you running, giving your max effort, but just the way that he went about the actual tackle, part of it the boy, Trevor slid, quarterback slide. And it was he slid. So you going low anyway, like, what was you aiming for? And then, you made that. It was a dirty play."

Oluokun continued, "I'm not gonna say he a dirty person, but it was a dirty play. And he knows that. I think in his mind, he knows he shouldn't have done that. As a defender, I understand being aggressive and they want to make every play I saw, he said something about trying to hit everybody as hard as he can, for sure, I understand that mindset, but you understand how the game is played, especially today, and there's no room for that in the game right now."

As a fellow linebacker, Olukoun is in a position to talk about what can and shouldn't be done. But leaving Foye aside, Azeez Al-Shaair has gotten widespread scorn from the league for his hit on Trevor Lawrence, and understandably so. While he says he's sorry, his apology sounds like he feels bad that the Jaguars quarterback got hurt but not that he hit him.

Heck, Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans doesn't think his player did something necessarily wrong, complaining about the rules and shifting the blame to the Jaguars.

The bottom line is that regardless of the length of the suspension, hits like the one Azeez Al-Shair laid on Trevor Lawrence have no place in today's NFL, and he deserves to be punished for it.

More Jaguars analysis here: