It didn't take long for Tennessee Titans newcomers Azeez Al-Shaair and Sean Murphy-Bunting to cultivate a strong relationship as teammates.

Two months after both players signed their contracts with the Titans, Al-Shaair and Murphy-Bunting told media on Tuesday that there relationship is more like brothers than friends.

The two NFL veterans and defensive playmakers had an instant chemistry when they connected through a unique gesture earlier this offseason. 

Back on March 14th, the second day of the NFL Free agency cycle, Al-Shaair agreed to a one-year, $5 million contract with the Titans as an unrestricted free agent. Almost a full week later, on March 20th, the Titans made the signing official and Al-Shaair spoke to Titans media for the first time.

On the same day Al-Shaair officially became a Titan, Tennessee agreed to terms on a one-year, $3.5 million free agent contract with Murphy-Bunting. The Titans then had Murphy-Bunting join the 2023 free agent class and Titans coaches at dinner that evening, and the two friends first met.

"We were going to dinner and I talked to Ran [Carthon] and he told me 'hey we got Sean Murphy-Buntning. He's coming, you'll see him at dinner.' I already know who he is. I'm from Tampa so the Bucs have always been a team on my mind that I keep up with," Al-Shaair told the media. "We had a van pick us up to take us all to dinner with the coaches later on that day, and I got on the bus and sat next to him and instantly, you would have thought he's been my brother."

The free agent signings would later fly home before returning to Nashville for team practices. Al-Shaair and Murphy-Bunting were on the same flight to Tampa, with Al-Shaair seated in first class and Murphy-Bunting towards the back of the plane. Murphy-Bunting had signed later than the rest of the Titans' free agents, and so his trip was coordinated last minute.

It was then that Al-Shaair gave up his spot in first class, and requested to be moved back by his new teammate. 

"He came and said "I'm going to sit with you" and he pretty much asked the flight attendant if he could sit there. We talked the whole flight back, and I don't think we pulled out our phones one time," Murphy-Bunting said earlier this week. "We just talked about life, we talked about the experiences that we've been through throughout the NFL, we talked about relationships we've had with people and we've dealt with similar injuries as far as upper body extremities. We had things to talk about in that regard."

"I feel like he's a brother and I haven't even played with him yet or been around him enough yet," Murphy-Bunting said of his new teammate.

Hopefully all of this chemistry translates well to the football field. The Titans will be leaning on both Al-Shaair and Murphy-Bunting to play key roles in their defense in 2023. 

The players have already discussed at length how the difficult offseason training program makes the roster bonded together. This level of cohesion is a really good sign of things to come for the Titans' defense.