An $11,593 fine should have been enough. For most players, a league penalty and a stern warning would end the conversation. But for Houston Texans linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair, silence has never been an option. When Al-Shaair walked onto the field before Sunday’s divisional round game against the New England Patriots, three words were scrawled across his eye black strips: “stop the g*nocide.” This was the same message that cost him $11.5 K after the Wild Card win over the Pittsburgh Steelers. He knew another penalty was coming, but he wore it anyway.

The NFL doesn’t play around with Rule 5, Section 4, Article 8. Personal messages on game day are prohibited unless they’re pre-approved by the league. The rule clearly states, “The league will not grant permission for any club or player to wear, display, or otherwise convey messages, through helmet decals, arm bands, jersey patches, mouthpieces, or other items affixed to game uniforms or equipment, which relate to political activities or causes, other non-football events, causes or campaigns, or charitable causes or campaigns.”

Al-Shaair’s message, referencing the ongoing Gaza conflict following the October 2023 Hamas attack, violated league uniform policy. But since this was the second time Al-Shaair’s message was displayed, the NFL went further. League officials pulled him aside before kickoff with a direct warning: wear it during the game, and you’re done. He’d be removed from play.

Azeez Al-Shaair peeled off the eye black and played. The Texans lost 28-16 in a snow-soaked disaster where their quarterback, CJ Stroud, threw four picks. Houston’s playoff run ended in Foxborough, and for Al-Shaair, it now looks like another fine is coming for the pregame display. But for him, this wasn’t a spontaneous rebellion.

Why Azeez Al-Shaair wore that message despite risking a fine

The 28-year-old linebacker has also championed Palestinian causes through the NFL’s “My Cause, My Cleats” program for years. This latest message was just another way for him to express solidarity. And after the Patriots’ loss, Al-Shaair didn’t dodge the questions.

“At the end of the day, it’s bigger than me,” he said. “The things that are going on makes people uncomfortable. Imagine how those people feel? I think that’s the biggest things. I have no affiliation, no connection to these people other than the fact that I am a human being. If you have a heart and you’re a human being, and you see what’s going on in this world, you check yourself real quick. I’m sitting here crying about football when there’s people dying every single day.”

The linebacker also called out inconsistent enforcement by the league. Al-Shaair made the case that Patriots wide receiver Stefon Diggs has often worn eye black messages without discipline. But no surprise, Al-Shaair has also been careful to condemn violence everywhere.

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“On either side, people losing their life is not right,” he told the Houston Chronicle back in 2024. “In no way, shape or form am I validating anything that happened, but to consistently say that because of [October 7] innocent people [in Gaza] should not die, it’s crazy.”

But another penalty is coming. Azeez Al-Shaair knows it. The NFL will most likely process another fine for Sunday’s pregame violation. But he seems to have accepted the cost. Because for him, this matters more than any fines.