Talib Was A Captain, Too
May 1st, 2011
Rockstar general manager Mark Dominik loves to draft those college captains. Hell, all but two of the Bucs’ 2011 draft picks were team captains, men of high character and responsibility who garnered the ultimate respect of players and coaches.
It’s a key measuring stick, Dominik explained to the media after the close of the draft Saturday.
“It is important to us. We look at that as a level of respect within a university, certainly within a team, certainly within the coaching staff. Anybody that’s got that kind of mentality, anybody’s got that kind of tag to him, deserves an extra bit of scrutiny in the right way,” Dominik said.
During a rare and interesting interview by Scott Smith, video master of Buccaneers.com, he put a camera and a microphone in front of two Buccaneers scouts and hit them with questions right after the close of the fifth round Saturday.
Scott Smith: That’s 5-for-5 on team captains [in the first five picks]. Is that apparently something important to you guys?
Brian Hudspeth, Buccaneers South region scout: “Absolutely. Leadership’s important to us and high character kids. These are the kids we’re kind of targeting. And these are the guys we want on our team. Leadership is important; it’s kind of the glue that holds the whole thing together here. Ahmad [Black] is another one of those guys, along with Mason [Foster]. So these are guys that are really going to help us down the road.”
This captain-lover philosophy is nothing new for Dominik, but Joe finds it interesting to hear just how much weight a college player’s captaincy is given.
Back in 2008, the junior captain of the 12-1 Kansas Jayhawks was selected by the Bucs in the first round. That would be Aqib Talib.
Sure, Talib’s an unstable, unreliable teammate mired under a cloud of a felony assault charge, but there’s an awful lot of positive there, too. Kevin Carter talked about Talib’s upside last week. Jeff Faine’s on the record, as well, and so is Ronde Barber. And then there’s the NFL Alumni association that voted Talib its defensive back of the year a few months ago.
Yes, Joe is quite certain Dominik hasn’t made any sort of decision about the former Jayhawks captain.
May 1st, 2011 at 8:16 am
Nah, the guys at” The St.Pete times” got that one right. Talib is done here. They may try to trade him, or keep him thru camp, but this last stunt finished him off. I think everyone underestimates how bad that issue with the refs was. The thug had to be restrained from attacking the officials! This after being suspended for assault earlier the same season. Godell got informed about that incident, and put Pacman Talib and the Bucs on the “one more and yer done” plan! Of course, Talib AGAIN screwed up! He’s finished, and good riddance!
May 1st, 2011 at 9:57 am
@ capt tim -i think this has been argued enough…Talib will be a buc next year, nuff said
on a brighter side, Adam Schefter ranked our draft tops in the NFL
(twitter) My day-after sense of the teams that had the top 5 drafts.
1. Buccaneers; 2. Cardinals; 3. Broncos; 4. Lions; 5. Texans
May 1st, 2011 at 10:15 am
Tom Brady was not a Captain, in fact he was not even a starter. Just being a Captain alone is not a guarantee of character/athletic performance. I am sure it is just ONE thing Tampa evaluates, among many others. Someone told me Randy Moss was a Captain in College, LOL He is a real ‘team player’.
May 1st, 2011 at 10:24 am
Talib….was a Buccaneer
May 1st, 2011 at 11:16 am
talib = taliban
talib is like the taliban of the bucs…we must rid ourselves of this garbage…once dom cuts this punk, the league will realize the bucs have really arrived and are back again…as long as they hold onto talib-an then the front office guys are still kid like jokers playing in a mans world….this team is looking like a team to be reckoned with for a long time…dommy is becoming a top gm in the league…now he needs to put his foot down and thump and dump talib-an to earn league wide respect…adam from ny
May 1st, 2011 at 11:18 am
I think the reason the Bucs are going for team captains is because there is only a couple veterans on the team that are leadership figures.
They are probably going after team captains in the hope of finding the leaders of the new Bucs generation.
In addition, Team Captains are usually the positive guys on a team…by getting so many, it keeps most of the team positive when adversity comes.
May 1st, 2011 at 11:21 am
Any one here wanting the Bucs to cut Talib right off the bat should have their heads examined.
If it comes to making that sort of decision, have him ride out his suspension first in order to see if any of the other guys does well in his place. Because if no one does…plain and simple…we need him.
I would hate for bad cornerback play to be the reason we don’t make the playoffs at the end of this season.
May 1st, 2011 at 11:33 am
Capt. Tim- dislike Talib if you want but he isn’t going anywhere if he doesn’t get convicted of this charge. The guys at the St. Pete times are wrong. THATS OBVIOUS NOW. The Bucs didn’t ignore cornerback until the 7th round of the draft just to turn around and cut Talib. Its common sense. Get over it dude.
May 1st, 2011 at 11:34 am
Not only will Talib be here, but the only thing we will here about him in the future is the discussions from the press and the fans.
May 1st, 2011 at 11:34 am
Talib also was a Bruce Allen production….like Stevens and the talented Dexter Jackson.
May 1st, 2011 at 11:38 am
Adam from NY- You mean they should hold a racially motivated and brutal beating and sodomization of Talib???? You better hope Joe doesn’t see that one dude.
May 1st, 2011 at 11:46 am
@NJBucFan
I’m glad you brought this up, Uncle Bruce was the GM with Coach Gruden. I do believe at the time, Dom was Director of Pro Player Personel. I’m pretty confident Chucky or Uncle Bruce had final say on the draft choices that year.
May 1st, 2011 at 11:59 am
Joe here,
@ Adam from NY – Joe deleted your over-the-line post. C’mon dude. Here’s the link to Joe’s video on commenting. https://www.joebucsfan.com/?p=47241
It address wishing physical harm on others.
May 1st, 2011 at 1:20 pm
Pete and Gitarlvr- despite your delusions and apparent mancrush on Talib, Buc Management has no such delussions about scumbags. Talib is done here. They will replace him with a player who is both more talented( nit as hard as you two seen to think) and a better human( hard to be worse). This player will be a leader, and get along with Our young leaders like McCoy, bowers, Foster, and Grimm. His departure will take a lot of stress out of the locker room, as aqub’s behavior( attacking Referrees) embarrassed the decent players on the team. The removal of his foul stench will improve team chemistry- which is yet another reason intelligent Buc Fans want the thug unplugged!!!. Rest assured- he’s gone!
May 1st, 2011 at 1:21 pm
Gitarlvr- don’t you ever get tired of always being wrong?
May 1st, 2011 at 2:15 pm
@Joe
Haha I always play by the rules of course but for some reason I thought your video was kind of funny lol. Especially when you said “you can’t tell people that they’re ***holes, or that they’re ******* idiots, or that they’re a dumb****. haha
May 1st, 2011 at 2:50 pm
Captain Tim you are racist and a punk. Good to know that Taliib will be here for the long run, so the real fans get to watch an elite corner. How are the Bucs finding a corner more talented? Nnamdi is not coming here, even if he did he would have to adjust to a new system… Jon Joseph is not in Talib’s league and is also older (Joseph hit his peak) Talib still hasn’t peaked out yet.
May 1st, 2011 at 2:51 pm
They will replace him with who Capt. Tim??? They didn’t draft a cornerback with future starting potential. They would have done that if they had already decided to cut Talib. They aren’t signing Nnamdi. We all know that. You are the one with delusions if you think they are going to sign an over 30 player to the biggest free agent contract of the season.
In case you need PROOF straight from the horses mouth here it is.
http://www2.tbo.com/sports/bucs/2011/may/01/SPNEWSO7-morris-bucs-to-wait-on-talib-ar-203924/
Raheem Morris said in COMPLETELY UNAMBIGUOUS terms that the Bucs will, in fact, wait for decisions from the courts and the league on Talib before ultimately taking action themselves. Its not an argument anymore. Its not a debate. TALIB WILL NOT BE CUT WHEN THE LOCKOUT IS LIFTED. I have no kind of mancrush on Talib. Im just presenting you with the FACT that you and the times are wrong about Talib being cut immediately after the lockout ends.
May 1st, 2011 at 2:54 pm
Capt. Tim- Might want to get a little more informed before accusing other of always being wrong when incontrovertible proof of your wrongness is floating around out there for anyone to see if they are paying any attention.
May 1st, 2011 at 3:16 pm
@Capt “They will replace him with a player who is both more talented( nit as hard as you two seen to think) ” What??? Talib might be gone but he is a top 5 corner (talent wise) in all the NFL.
May 1st, 2011 at 4:44 pm
“Raheem Morris said in COMPLETELY UNAMBIGUOUS terms that the Bucs will, in fact, wait for decisions from the courts and the league on Talib before ultimately taking action themselves. Its not an argument anymore. Its not a debate. TALIB WILL NOT BE CUT WHEN THE LOCKOUT IS LIFTED.”
you hit it right on the nose. i mean for crying out loud the moral police have been all over this one from the get go with absolutely no evidece, just plain theory. this is hands down the most clear cut LOGICAL evidence to date, so SHUT UP ALREADY! he aint going anywhere until goodell or the grand jury say otherwise. so please quit beating a dead horse. it’s absolutely unnecessary
May 1st, 2011 at 7:15 pm
Capt Tim is clueless, haven’t you all realized that by now? Calling Talib a scumbag, thug, etc, really? Get a life dude..
If Talib is proven innocent, I’d be extremely upset to let a top-5 cornerback go. And no, I’m not a “Talib-fanboy”..I just like keeping our elite players
Check mate.
May 1st, 2011 at 9:14 pm
Spot on again Joe!! Talib will not be “given” away. and I’d wager he remains a Buc!
May 1st, 2011 at 9:17 pm
To bucs4ever–it’s useless arguing with some of these “Buc fans/idots”
They take their cues from the local pukes..oops, i meant, local sports writers….pied piper syndrome, I call it.
May 2nd, 2011 at 4:28 am
I’ve got some Captain in me….
Comparing Talib to the Taliban? Seriously?
May 2nd, 2011 at 9:09 am
And once again, when the idiot is released, and they sign a top flight FA CB, you guys will have to accept you Zombieness. Taliban is a top 5 cornerback only in some of tour wet dreams, lol! He’s an idiot who blew his chance. Nothing more, nothing less. If he is “innocent” this time is irrelevant. He has averaged two “incidents” a year. As Joe has stated, the commish is fed up with his Pacman copycat behavior. He’s done. Plus none of our high character team leaders( Freeman, McCoy, etc) are as willing to put up with this self centered nonsense as some of you seem to be. They want to win, not read about some moron embarrassing the team. All you Talib defenders have proven is that you never played a team sport. Teammates won’t tolerate the ignorance you guys seem so willing to embrace. I think Hovan made the teams opinion quite clear! Grow up and expect some accountability from these guys, not childish blind adoration
May 2nd, 2011 at 9:25 am
And Guitarlvr- Mark Dominick has signed free agents every year he’s been in charge. He signed Sean Jones, Reggie Brown, Jon Alston, Kendrick Vincent. He tried to sign Albert Haynesworth, offering him the largest contract. The year before he signed several Free agents, including the extremely expensive Derrick Ward.
What makes you think he isn’t planning to sign FAs now?? He has said several times that he has had his eye on this FA class, the largest in history. And, by plan, we have the most money to spend!!! Take deep breathes, the Buc management is committed to winning. They realize Talib is a lost cause, and will replace him thru FA- I Guarentee it.
And who keeps telling you guys Talib is some great talent? All the pro player scouting mags have him listed between 18 and 35. The report is that he gets caught looking in the backfirleld too much, and frequently gives up big plays. Also says that he has poor timing on jump balls, and leaves alot of interceptions on the field. Everyone list him as middle of the pack. He got no votes from the players for the probowl!! Who is telling you what a great talent he is?? Most pro scouts think he isn’t smart enough for the posistion. He’s never been to a probowl, and I don’t hear anyone raving about him but Pete and Gitarlvr. You two- who I normally respect- have taken this Aqib love to the ridiculous level. Joe told you that too, Pete. He is an average talent, who averages two embarrassing incidents a year. Any of you try that at work, and you’ll be as fired as Talib