Aqib Talib Harbors No Hard Feelings Toward Broncos After 2018 Trade
By Zack Kelberman
(247 SPORTS) - Enough time has passed to where Aqib Talib feels comfortable discussing his unceremonious departure from Denver.
The former Broncos and current Rams cornerback was asked at Super Bowl media day whether he still holds any resentment toward his four-year employer. And the answer was a resounding no.
"Not at all, man. It's our business," he said, via Ryan Koenigsberg of BSN Denver. "When you have three cornerbacks making big money and you need a QB, something's gotta give. I ain't mad, though, John threw me the oop and I dunked it. Good s--t, baby!"
Talib arrived to the Broncos in 2014, joining a stacked defense that boasted both household names (Von Miller, DeMarcus Ware, T.J. Ward) and rising studs (Danny Trevathan, Malik Jackson), coached by arguably the game's best defensive mind (Wade Phillips). The collective talent and mastermindery, having formed an all-time great unit, led the team to a Super Bowl title in 2015.
Then they disbanded.
Trevathan and Jackson left in free agency in 2016. Phillips bolted to the Rams in January of 2017, his Broncos contract not renewed. Ware retired in March of that year. Ward was cut that September, a parting of the ways that seeded discontent in the Broncos' locker room, and Talib was dealt to Phillips and the Rams for a fifth-round draft pick last March — a divorce prompted mostly by money, with Denver freeing $11 million in salary cap space.
Emotions were raw after Talib was shipped to sunny SoCal. So raw that Talib took a bold-faced shot at Elway during an interview with Sports Illustrated, equating the Broncos' 2017 struggles with his decision to shed the team's star power.
"Maybe they should stop firing all the dogs," Talib said last July. "That team was full of dogs, and now they're all gone. So, stop firing all the dogs."
Breaking character, the normally tight-lipped Elway fired back at Talib with passive-aggressive restraint.
"I laughed because I knew it came from Aqib,'' he said. "Aqib was a great player for us a long time. I like Aqib a lot. But he's got his opinions and when he's the GM he can keep all the dogs – whatever that means.''
One could make the argument, as he intimated, that Talib "won" the trade, despite playing in just eight regular season games. The five-time Pro Bowler showed enough to help the Rams' defense through its playoff run, and he's now 60 minutes from another ring, which would put him squarely in the Canton conversation.
Denver finished 6-10 and its pass defense fell off a cliff, decimated by injuries and hampered by inferior coaching. The once-named, once-feared No Fly Zone secondary ranked 20th, and the many band-aid CBs applied to replace Talib's roster hole — Tramaine Brock, Adam Jones, Isaac Yiadom, Jamar Taylor — were ineffectual.
The Broncos traded the pick they received for Talib back to the Rams on draft day, in exchange for two sixth-rounders. Those turned into guard Sam Jones and linebacker Keishawn Bierria, neither of whom contributed as rookies.