Bucs G.M. Mark Dominik recently took issue with the notion that his organization looked past character concerns. That statement will be seriously tested by cornerback Aqib Talib.
As mentioned in Tuesday’s one-liners, a pair of Tampa columnists on Tuesday called for the team to release Talib after his latest incident that involved the police. Talib is a “person of interest” after allegedly firing gunshots at his brother-in-law in Texas.
A decision on whether Talib will be charged is expected later this week, but Martin Fennelly of the Tampa Tribune doesn’t need to wait.
“Dump this clown,” Fennelly writes. Later in the column he says: “Let this train wreck somewhere else.”
Gary Shelton of the St. Petersburg Times took a more reasoned approach to the situation, but ultimately came to the same conclusion.
“The next time something is fired, it ought to be Talib,” Shelton wrote.
The most salient point made by Fennelly was about Tampa’s “sliding scale” of justice. There’s no doubt Talib would be out of chances if he wasn’t so talented. But he is very talented. Talib is arguably the best defensive player on the team, and inarguably one of the most promising young cornerbacks in football.
No matter what happens with Talib’s legal case, there’s a chance he’ll be suspended by the NFL. Again. The Bucs have to decide whether he’ll still be on the Tampa roster when that happens.
We suspect the Bucs, like most all teams, will chose talent over character when push comes to shove.