Upon conclusion of Tuesday’s first mandatory minicamp practice, Denver Broncos head coach Gary Kubiak was peppered with questions from the gathered media about cornerback Aqib Talib, who missed the practice because of a shooting incident over the weekend.
Kubiak was forthcoming, but only to a point. He did offer praise of Talib, saying he’s been very accountable since Kubiak came to Denver in January of 2015.
We’ve gathered the Talib-related questions and answers from Tuesday’s post-practice media session below.
On CB Aqib Talib
“He should be here tomorrow, I think. When I talked to ‘Greek’ (Head Athletic Trainer Steve Antonopulos) last, my expectations are him to possibly fly in this evening if everything is going according to what I heard before I came on the practice field, and be around here tomorrow. You may not seem him. It’ll probably be more medical evaluation stuff tomorrow, but should be back in town tomorrow.”
On Talib’s status
“The only thing I’m concerned about right now is his health, and that’s what I’m trying to get him here for so we can see him, put his hands on him, know exactly what’s going on and go from there.”
On the nature of Talib’s injury
“I’ve obviously had many conversations with Aqib since this has taken place, but no. Right now, to me, that’s between he and I and the club. [We’re] still trying to get more information on exactly everything that happened. I’m going to continue to say the thing: I’m concerned about is health and where he’s at physically and where we’ve got to go next. We’ll sort through all the other stuff.”
On Talib’s past
“Aqib has been—in my time here—he’s been a great teammate. He’s worked his butt off. He’s very accountable around here and I don’t expect any of that to change. And like I said, let me see where he’s at physically and we’ll go to work on everything else.”
On Talib’s injury timetable
“It’s been about ‘Greek’ talking to the attending physician there. Other than that, we don’t know anything. Everything we hear from that standpoint has been of a positive nature as far as what could’ve happened compared to where he’s at. So we need to get him here and see exactly where he’s at. They’ve talked about a timetable of him getting back. I’d rather not go into that right now until we see him for ourselves.”
On if the team has discussed Talib’s health status
“Our trainer and some doctors have, yes.”
On Talib’s spirits
“Obviously, I think you’re disappointed from the standpoint of what he’s gone through. Now he’s got to work his way back. Conversations have been just like you would probably think they are: ‘How are you doing? How’s your health? We’ve got to get you back to town.’”
On Talib’s relationship with the team
“We’ve got to sit down and we have to visit because like I said, you have to understand, we haven’t been face-to-face since the incident—neither he nor I or [Vice President of Football Operations/General Manager] John [Elway] or anybody. We haven’t been involved. So let us get him back here. Let us sort through everything that took place. Let us make sure we understand what we have to do from a physical standpoint, and I think we go from there. I just don’t want to get ahead of myself. Other than the phone conversations, there’s been nothing else.”
*** OTHER QUESTIONS ***
On if this offseason has been turbulent
“It’s been good. We won the Super Bowl. Football, what we do, there’s always things going on. There’s nothing smooth about what we do. There’s always things happening, but the most important thing is what we do on that field and how we get ready to play. I think we’ve done a good job of sorting through distractions and various things that are going on with our team and staying focused on football.”
*** OTHER QUESTIONS ***
On Talib possibly facing league discipline
“I don’t know. Until I’ve gathered all the information and know wholly and confident that I know exactly everything that took place and what’s going on and what’s happening, I don’t want to go there right now. I want to get him healthy. I want to check his frame of mind. I want to keep this football team going and keep them focused on what we need to do.”
