The NFL season is already off to a chaotic start.
Star quarterback Deshaun Watson will miss 11 games due to sexual misconduct.
And an NFL announcer stepped down after one shocking scandal.
Former Pro Bowl cornerback and Super Bowl champion Aqib Talib transitioned into broadcasting after retiring in 2020.
He called games for Fox Sports as a color commentator and parlayed that into a gig for Amazon’s Thursday Night Football coverage.
Talib was set to give commentary during pregame, halftime, and postgame.
However, Talib is stepping down from his role after being involved in a deadly shooting at a youth football game in Texas.
NFL reporter Ian Rapoport wrote on Twitter, “Just spoke to Aqib Talib. In light of the recent tragedy, he is going to step aside from his broadcasting duties at Amazon to spend time with his family.”
According to witnesses, Talib instigated a fight with opposing coaches at a football game featuring nine-year-olds.
As tensions escalated, Talib’s older brother Yaqub pulled out a gun and fatally shot opposing coach Mike Hickmon, whose son was one of the players in the game.
Today at a little league football game a head coach was shot and killed his son is the QB on the team witnessed 🤬 pic.twitter.com/hMTGiK0PDl
— Kapepula 🇨🇩 (@Tchinga_Mokonzi) August 14, 2022
Talib’s brother turned himself in, but Talib himself has not yet been criminally charged for any role he may have played in the horrific incident.
From The Blaze:
“Three eyewitnesses claim that five-time NFL Pro Bowler Aqib Talib instigated the Pee Wee football brawl that led to the on-field shooting death of coach Mike Hickmon in Texas…[N]ear the conclusion of a 9-and-under football scrimmage in Lancaster, Hickmon scuffled with opposing coaches representing the North Dallas United Bobcats, a team organized and financed by Talib and his older brother Yaqub Talib. During the melee, witnesses say Hickmon struck Aqib Talib with a yard marker. The fracas ended when a man wearing a black hoodie fired five shots at Hickmon, killing the 43-year-old assistant coach. Lancaster police identified Yaqub Talib as the shooter. Yaqub turned himself in to law enforcement Monday afternoon. Coaches for the Dragon Elite Academy, the team Hickmon served as an assistant coach, blame Aqib Talib for sparking the tragedy.”
Dragon Elite coach Kerry Lewis said, “Aqib incited the whole uproar. The game would’ve never been stopped had Aqib not come over to our sideline to yell at the refs.”
Talib accused the refs of favoritism after an unnecessary roughness penalty on his team, but Talib is the one who organized the event and paid the referees.
He’s also a former NFL star, so it’s hard to argue that the refs were in the bag for the opposing team.
This isn’t Talib’s first violent confrontation.
Jason Whitlock of Blaze Media explained, “In 2008, he engaged in a brawl at the NFL rookie symposium. In 2009, he was arrested after an altercation with a taxi driver. In 2011, Aqib and his mother were suspected of firing a gun at his sister’s boyfriend. In 2016, Talib attacked Tennessee Titans receiver Harry Douglas on the sideline. After the game, Talib told reporters that he would ‘beat Douglas’s ass’ the next time he saw him at their agent’s office. In 2017, Aqib and Raiders receiver Michael Crabtree had an ugly on-field skirmish. Aqib snatched a gold chain from Crabtree’s neck.”
This is not the start to the NFL season that the league wanted.