49ers ‘Should Want’ to Bring Back Breakout LB They Lost Last Year

Getty Azeez Al-Shaair could help with the 49ers Dre Greenlaw injury situation.

Maybe they should look at it as a sort of mulligan. When the 49ers let linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair leave as a free agent last season, signing a one-year deal with the Titans, the presumption was that, with Dre Greenlaw and Fred Warner in place, and with two incoming draftees at the position, there was no real need to keep Al-Shaair. Well, a year later, and the 49ers defense could really use a depth piece like Al-Shaair back.

He is a free agent again, and with Greenlaw having suffered an Achilles tendon injury in the Super Bowl loss to Kansas City, bringing back Al-Shaair would make a heap of sense.

That’s the thought from USA Today’s Touchdown Wire, which outlines, “One free agent every team should want to sign in 2024,” as a preview to this year’s offseason.  And for writer Kyle Madson, Al-Shaair should be the focus for the Niners after he put up a solid season after starting his career with the 49ers as an undrafted free agent.

49ers Dre Greenlaw Situation Complicates Offseason

Al-Shaair started all 17 games for the Titans last year, and logged a career-high 163 tackles, which ranked fifth in the NFL. Granted, he would not start for a completely healthy unit in San Francisco, and that might be a role he is looking for in free agency, but he’d be a great option while Greenlaw recovers and a top-notch third linebacker.

Wrote Madson: “The 49ers aren’t going to have much wiggle room under the salary cap to spend big in free agency. After a strong year with the Titans Al-Shaair may have priced himself out of what the 49ers can afford. …

“Neither LB Oren Burks nor Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles was good enough in the Super Bowl and it showed. Adding a player like Al-Shaair gives San Francisco a familiar face who knows their defense and provides a short-term replacement for Greenlaw while he recovers from his Achilles tear, and a potential long-term option to replace Greenlaw if winds up leaving in free agency after the 2024 season.”

Would Azeez Al-Shaair Want to Return?

Now, the question would be whether the 49ers could afford to bring in Al-Shaair, as Madson mentioned. Pro Football Focus has Al-Shaair rated as the No. 6 linebacker on the free-agent market, and slated to earn a three-year contract worth $20.25 million. That is the kind of deal that the 49ers could handle, but there is a chance Al-Shaair gets more than that.

Also a valid question: Would Al-Shaair want to go back to San Francisco? He professed his desire to stay in Tennessee earlier this year, and said he was not impressed with how mean the folks in the Bay Area could be.

(He was kidding … we think.)

“I would love to be back with the Tennessee Titans next season,” he told SI.com. “We’ll see how everything unfolds. I would love to be here. I’ve really enjoyed my time in Nashville. The people here, it’s more of a southern background. It’s what I’m used to I guess. They people aren’t as mean as they were in California (laughs).

“Nashville is closer to home for me. I feel like I’ve started to build a new home here. I would love to be back with the Titans.”