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The Denver Broncos have been on an epic run of former players and executives making their way to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
In the last decade alone, the Broncos have seen 10 former players and executives inducted, with linebacker Randy Gradishaw part of the 2024 class that went into the Hall of Fame on Aug. 3.
Now, our attention turns to the 2025 class and the first-year eligible players, including former Broncos cornerback Aqib Talib, a two-time NFL All-Pro and four-time Pro Bowler who helped lead the Broncos to a win over the Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl 50.
Talib played 12 seasons in the NFL after the Tampa Bay Buccaneers drafted him in the first round (No. 20 overall) of the 2008 NFL draft, and he played for the Broncos from 2014 to 2017 — the second-longest stop of a career that saw him play for five teams.
The headliners of Talib’s class of first-year eligible players are New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning, Panthers linebacker Luke Kuechly and Baltimore Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs.
Talib’s Path to NFL Elite Ran Through Big 12
Talib, 6-foot-1 and 209 pounds, starred in high school in the Dallas suburbs at Berkner High before turning into a superstar at Kansas, where he was the best player on some of the best teams in school history and a two-time All-Big 12 selection.
Talib also showed a flair for the dramatic in college that include a game-clinching interception against rival Kansas State, a 102-yard interception return for a touchdown against Florida International and an interception return for a touchdown in the Jayhawks’ Orange Bowl win over Virginia Tech and was named Orange Bowl MVP.
Leaving school with one year of eligibility remaining, Talib became the first, first-round pick out of Kansas since Dana Stubblefield was taken by the San Francisco 49ers in 1993. In 12 seasons, Talib made a whopping $71.9 million in career earnings, the majority of which came from a 6-year, $57 million free-agent contract he signed with the Broncos in 2014.
Could Off-Field Issues Impact Talib’s Chances?
One of the more uncomfortable debates around Hall of Fame eligibility — regardless of sport — is whether a player’s off-field issues should impact their chances of making it in.
With Talib, his off-field issues started almost from the moment he was selected after he got into a fistfight with fellow Tampa Bay rookie Cory Boyd at the NFL rookie symposium. He also missed a mandatory rookie appearance at the Pro Football Hall of Fame and was consistently late or missing at team meetings and team activities during the offseason and training camp.
In 2009, Talib was arrested for resisting arrest and assaulting a taxi cab driver in Florida. In 2011, he was arrested on felony gun charges in Texas after he allegedly fired a gun at his sister’s boyfriend.
In 2012, Talib was suspended four games for violating the NFL’s substance abuse policy after he said he took Aderall without a prescription.
In 2016, he made up a story about getting shot in the leg outside of a strip club in Dallas — it was later reveled Talib shot himself in the leg.
Talib earned praise for his work as a commentator on Prime Video’s Thursday Night Football but stepped away in 2022 after his brother, Yaqub Talib, was convicted of murdering a youth football coach during an altercation following a youth game in Lancaster, Texas.
According to several eyewitnesses and video obtained from the day of the shooting, the altercation began when Aqib Talib and a group of men walked across the field and started throwing punches at game officials.
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