Redskins are in on Aqib Talib
In our breakdown of those suitors, we had the Redskins as number two (behind the Patriots). They were heavily interested in Talib last year, and it appears that they are gearing up for another run.
Karen Guregian, Boston Herald:
It looks like the Patriots might have to duke it out with the Washington Redskins over Aqib Talib.
Bleacher Report analyst and former NFL quarterback Chris Simms, who was in the Pats organization recently as a coaching assistant, and also played with Talib in Tampa, reported that he was hearing the Skins were going to be “major players” in the bidding for the shutdown corner.
As we noted in our "5 likely destinations for Aqib Talib" the Redskins couldn't afford Talib last year, but this year have a healthy $21,938,568 in cap space. They just locked up corner DeAngelo Hall, which initially we thought meant they wouldn't be in the running to spend big on a cornerback.
Pass defense was one of the Redskins biggest problems last year, as they were 20th in the league. A cornerback duo of DeAngelo Hall and Aqib Talib would certainly be an upgrade.
This should be worrisome for Pats fans hoping the team would retain Talib. All indications are that Talib is looking for a big pay day, and he'll definitely be wanting more than the $8 million/year that Brent Grimes received in Miami.
The Patriots literally can't afford to get into a bidding way with the owner (Dan Snyder) most famous for overpaying on splashy free agent moves. They only have about $12 million in cap space, around $10 million less than Washington.
The one thing that could make this not work for the Redskins is defensive backs coach Raheem Morris. Talib's off field incidents in Tampa were all on teams that Morris was head coach of, including one confrontation in London with Morris himself. Right now its simply an interest, but if things get more serious they could turn to Morris for advice, and that might scare them off of committing big money to the corner.
