Sports is full of hyperbole. Just look at Twitter and see how many times a player, team or play is described as the greatest of all time (aka GOAT aka ?).
So when a reporter equated losing Pro Bowl safety T.J. Ward in a roster cut to a friend passing away, it wasn’t the first time that parallel has been made. But Aqib Talib says don’t compare those two things.
The All-Pro cornerback and former teammate of Ward’s has been in the league long enough to know that losing a teammate is just part of the business; it’s not life and death.
“If he died, its different. He didn’t die though,” Talib told Eric Goodman and Les Shapiro in an interview for Mile High Sports AM 1340 | FM 104.7.
“Don’t compare it to no dying or no death,” Talib continued. “Its our job man; if he died like you said, it would have been totally different. You know what I’m saying? He went on to another team. He made more money, man. He’s still in our group chat, we still hollering at him [like] we have before, man. You make half a million dollars more, man, so we look at the positives – the glass is half full.”
While Ward has been outspoken about the fact that the team didn’t engage him in conversation before releasing him, Talib has been in similar shoes and won’t be bothered about outcomes he can’t control.
“I was brothers with all the guys when I left Tampa, man,” Talib told Goodman and Shapiro. “I was born with those guys, born in the NFL with those guys, man. I was out there for four and a half years. [It] came out the blue, had no idea the I was getting traded – bam – I was gone. You know, that’s what’s part of what makes us professionals, man. You can put us anywhere we adjust we adapt; we gonna be cool.”
The decision to release Ward was met with discontent among many of his teammates and fans of the team, but Talib won’t dwell on what was lost. He’s focused on the players that are charged with filling Ward’s position at strong safety, and sees positive things from those next in line.
“Yeah, it’s football, man. It’s the nature of the business. We all have seen it happen before. You know what I’m saying? When you get three super talented safeties who [are] 23 years old and stuff man, it don’t surprise us man. We all know about the NFL. We all know this, you know, so there no surprises here, man. We talk about it among ourselves. ‘Hey we are professionals that part of what makes ourselves professionals.’ We can get somewhere and adjust so fast. T.J. gonna adjust to Tampa, he gonna adjust to the locker room over there so fast and lead those guys over there, man. So, that’s just part of what we do.”
Talib and the rest of the Denver secondary will get their chance to prove what they can do on Monday in the season opener against the Chargers.
Listen to Sorry – this audio content is no longer available., including his thoughts on Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers, in the podcast below.
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Catch Afternoon Drive with Goodman and Shapiro every weekday from 4p-6p on Mile High Sports AM 1340 | FM 104.7 or stream live any time for the best local coverage of Colorado sports from Denver’s biggest sports talk lineup.
