One of the most famous beefs in recent NFL history has been squashed.
Aqib Talib, former NFL cornerback and now a broadcaster for Fox Sports, joined Bleacher Report’s “Untold Stories” and discussed how he and former wide receiver Michael Crabtree settled their prodigious feud, which involved Talib famously snatching (and breaking) Crabtree’s chain during an in-game scuffle.
Talib first explained the origin of how he and Crabtree came to be foes. In an arc that reached across multiple seasons, Talib said that he and Crabtree had words during a game and that Crabtree made veiled threats on if they ever met in their mutual hometown of Dallas. That said, when a chance interaction happened at a mall, everything was cool.
Where it heated up, according to Talib, was when one of his coaches on the Broncos gave a speech before their divisional matchup with the Raiders during the 2016 season.
“They think it’s a f–king fashion show, they running out with chains. If I was playing I would snatch that s–t,” the coach said.
It clearly set off a lightbulb in Talib’s head. The cornerback was inactive during that game, but the two teams faced off again on New Year’s Day of 2017 – the last game of the season – which was when Talib infamously yanked Crabtree’s chain.
When the two next faced off in 2017, Crabtree and Talib were matched up on the outside, and Crabtree kept going on a blocking play, eventually tackling Talib to the ground.
This led to a team-wide scuffle, with both Talib and Crabtree throwing punches. Both players were ejected and Talib said he was fined a game check, totaling about $500,000. The league tried to take two games’ pay from him, but Broncos president John Elway “went to bat.”
“He was on the phone going HAM for me with the league office,” Talib said.
The beef was eventually squashed when Talib and Crabtree happened upon each other at a Go-Kart track, with their families in tow. According to Talib, they stepped outside and after words were briefly exchanged, got to the bottom of their dispute, agreed it was pointless, and shook hands.
Thus concludes a genuinely fascinating saga.