Talib Must Prove He Is Worthy Of This Risk

By JOE HENDERSON The Tampa Tribune

Published: Apr 27, 2008

TAMPA - When you hear a player has "character issues," it's just code for saying he can't be trusted. So reads the label now tattooed on Aqib Talib after three positive tests for marijuana in college and a two-game suspension in 2006. The penalties for drug violations in the National Football League are even steeper.

The Bucs knew all that and still selected this Kansas cornerback with their first pick of the draft Saturday. Given who else was available when it was their time to choose, people might wonder if the Bucs weren't smoking something themselves. One un-chaperoned night in Ybor and this pick could go to pot.

It's a risk, all right. Let's not pretend it isn't.

It was also a risk when the Bucs drafted Warren Sapp after his taste for weed caused him to plummet to the 12th spot in the 1995 draft. That worked out pretty well. Last year's top pick, Gaines Adams, had a positive dope test, too. He is doing just fine.

People make mistakes. Sometimes they make three of them.

Maybe I'm having a tough time getting too excited about the notion that a college kid smoked some dope, especially on a day when a (thankfully) former Buc named Kalvin Pearson was arrested in Tampa and charged with trying to strangle a pregnant woman. But you don't minimize it, either.

"I'm not going to live in the past. I'm going to live in the future. I trust this kid," Bucs coach Jon Gruden said. "And we're going to give him an opportunity to prove it.

"He understands exactly what we expect of him, and I believe he's excited about proving that he's got all the right stuff. I would really rather not dig up this kid's past."

Has Some Swagger

If it were only that simple. You have to dig up a kid's past, because it's the only barometer you have to gauge his future. But what do you focus on - the problems he had that culminated two years ago, or the fact he was an outstanding performer who stayed out of trouble last year?

His college coach - who, remember, suspended him - says there is nothing to worry about.

"He's a guy you'd have baby-sit your kids; you can trust him," KU coach Mark Mangino told the Kansas City Star. "Give him credit. He's a success story. He has turned his life around."

The Bucs need to believe that. They need to know that.

If it's true and his college problems were the result of immaturity that has been corrected, Talib has a chance to be pretty good. The immediate comparison was to Ronde Barber, and although we'll wait a little while before we go there, he does seem to have a penchant for making things happen.

"He is definitely a splash player," Bucs defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin said. "You look at his tape in college and he makes big-time plays. He also makes some big-time mistakes. We've got to get him to do those splash plays more consistently. That's my job."

They could have gone in many other directions. When time came to make the pick, receivers DeSean Jackson and Devin Thomas were available. Quarterbacks Chad Henne and Brian Brohm were available. So was USF cornerback Mike Jenkins. Were the Bucs wrong to take the risk?

It's too soon to tell. Talib has to prove on and off the field that he is worthy of this, and we won't know that for a while. On the field, it could work out just fine. But off the field, let's just say he is about to get a lot of money and new friends. Handling that is just as important - especially in his case - as how he does on any given Sunday.

Take A Chance

He knows it's an issue. He is also not the first person to push the freedom of college life just a bit.

"It was a stage that when I was a young man, moving out of the house, being on your own for the first time, I went through a little stage in college," he said. "All that stuff happened 21/2 years ago. That was a stage I went through in my life, and I learned a lot from it.

"I am a grown man now. I have moved forward from that. It is all behind me now."

That explanation wasn't enough for some other teams. If you believe the chatter, some teams shied away from him because of his past. Maybe, like with Sapp, that will wind up being to the Bucs' great fortune.

"I think when you meet Aqib Talib, you're going to see an upbeat guy who is thrilled to be in the National Football League, on a defense that can utilize his skills and maybe be on a football team where the offensive staff can use his skills also," Gruden said. "… I have tremendous confidence in him, as do our scouts, coaching staff, and our entire organization."

It's interesting how a player's life can flip dramatically on one-tenth of a second difference in his 40 time, or a quarter-inch in height. They measure these guys, time them, test them, but ultimately they have to trust them.

That's what the Bucs just did with Aqib Talib.

We'll know soon enough if that trust will be rewarded.