Azeez Al-Shaair's suspension should keep Chiefs from having to worry about dirty play

As long as his suspension holds up, the Kansas City Chiefs look like they won't have to worry about the dirty play of Azeez Al-Shaair coming up in a few weeks when they take on the Houston Texans in one of the final games of the season.

The single biggest talking point in the National Football League in Week 13 was the nasty hit by Al-Shaair on Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence. In case you missed it, Lawrence was sliding to end a scramble and Al-Shaair still hit him at full force and led with his forearm which led to a fight in defense of Lawrence and the intervention of the league itself.

Given the history of dirty or under-handed play by the Houston Texans linebacker, the league levied a three-game suspension for the hit. That said, Al-Shaair made it immediately clear he plans to appeal the penalty.

FYI, this is not Al-Shaair's first go-around with a reputation for unnecessary violence. Check out this weird hit on Tom Brady from 2022.

The full suspension will need to be upheld in order for Al-Shaair to miss the Chiefs game in Week 16. That would be the third and final game of Al-Shaair's punishment if he were to fully serve it. The Chiefs might also benefit from any process that's drug out over time. For example, if an appeal process takes longer than this standard week, then any punishment would not begin until Week 15—even if truncated. That makes a two-game suspension that starts next week just as effective as a three-game version that begins this week.

While every team wants to face the other at full strength so there are no excuses when it comes to wins, it's also true that no fan base wants to see a shady player on an opposing team taking shots at anyone. The timing here might help the Chiefs avoid a worse-case scenario of someone like Al-Shaair taking unnecessary aim at violence against the likes of Patrick Mahomes or others.