27 Days, 27 Picks: CB Aqib Talib
In 27 Days, 27 Picks, Bucs Wire will analyze the last 27 Tampa Bay Buccaneers first-round draft picks, one for each day leading up to the 2023 NFL draft. We’ll take a look at the player’s college stats, their pre-draft numbers (either via the NFL Combine or their Pro Day), their NFL stats, some player footage and analysis at the end on whether the pick itself was a good one.
Our next player in this series was productive for the Bucs, but a slew of off-the-field issues culminated in his trade to the New England Patriots in 2012. He’d become an All-Pro player later in his career, but he never reached that potential with Tampa Bay.
Check out the draft rundown for Aqib Talib below:
College Stats
John Rieger-USA TODAY Sports Copyright (c) 2007 John Rieger
Aqib Talib played college football at Kansas. He won the Jack Tatum trophy and was a consensus first-team All-American in 2007 and was named to the All-Big 12 team in 2006 and 2007.
Year | G | Solo | Ast | Tot | Loss | INT | TD |
2005 | 11 | 40 | 14 | 54 | 3.5 | 2 | 0 |
2006 | 10 | 30 | 12 | 42 | 1.5 | 6 | 0 |
2007 | 13 | 44 | 22 | 66 | 4.0 | 5 | 2 |
Total | 34 | 114 | 48 | 162 | 9.0 | 13 | 2 |
Pre-Draft Measurements
Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
Height | Weight | Arm length | Hand span | 40-yard dash | 20-yard shuttle | Three-cone drill | Vertical jump | Broad jump | Bench press |
6 ft 0 3/4 in | 202 lbs | 33 in | 9 3/8 in | 4.44s | 4.22s | 6.82s | 38 in | 10 ft 11 in | 10 reps |
Pick Selected
Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
Aqib Talib was selected with the No. 20 pick in the 2008 NFL draft.
Player selected before him: OT Jeff Otah, Carolina Panthers
Player selected after him: OT Sam Baker, Atlanta Falcons
NFL Stats
Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
Aqib Talib played 12 seasons in the NFL. He played five for the Bucs, two for the Patriots, four for the Broncos and two for the Rams. He was named a first-team All-Pro in 2016, a second-team All-Pro in 2013 and made the Pro Bowl five consecutive times from 2013-17.
Year | Team | G | Solo | Ast | Tot | PD | INT | FF | TD |
2008 | TB | 15 | 17 | 6 | 23 | 9 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
2009 | TB | 15 | 56 | 8 | 64 | 15 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
2010 | TB | 11 | 39 | 1 | 40 | 11 | 6 | 0 | 1 |
2011 | TB | 13 | 31 | 3 | 34 | 11 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
2012 | TB/NE | 10 | 33 | 7 | 40 | 10 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
2013 | NE | 13 | 35 | 6 | 41 | 14 | 4 | 1 | 0 |
2014 | DEN | 15 | 54 | 9 | 63 | 17 | 4 | 1 | 2 |
2015 | DEN | 15 | 39 | 6 | 45 | 13 | 3 | 0 | 2 |
2016 | DEN | 13 | 32 | 11 | 43 | 12 | 3 | 0 | 1 |
2017 | DEN | 15 | 23 | 8 | 31 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
2018 | LAR | 8 | 18 | 5 | 23 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
2019 | LAR | 5 | 7 | 7 | 14 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Total | 148 | 384 | 77 | 461 | 126 | 35 | 5 | 10 |
Player Footage
Pick Analysis
Jim O’Connor-USA TODAY Sports
Aqib Talib was a great football player — just not in Tampa Bay.
That’s been the unfortunate reality for a few draft picks of this era, but Talib’s trade to the New England Patriots in 2012 wasn’t as much for his on-field play. He was rather productive in Tampa Bay, and he had the most interceptions of his career in a season with the Bucs in 2012. Rather, Talib’s troubles in Tampa Bay were mostly with his off-the-field behavior.
He immediately started off his tenure with the Bucs by punching fellow Tampa Bay teammate Cory Boyd in the face at the 2008 NFL rookie symposium. He was booked in 2009 for battering a taxi driver in Pinellas County, and in 2011, he was issued a felony warrant for allegedly firing a gun at his sister’s boyfriend in Garland, Texas (those charges were later dropped). The final straw seemed to come in 2012, when he was suspended by the NFL for four games after testing positive for Adderall.
It’s hard to say the Bucs could have picked someone better in the first round, looking at how the draft shaped out, but to say this pick was a good one would be remiss. Talib didn’t play for Tampa Bay to make enough of an impact, and his constant issues seemed to derail his good play. He may have gone on to become an All-Pro elsewhere in Denver, but the Bucs would probably go a different direction if they got this pick back.
