Fact Check: Is Yaqub Talib related to Aqib Talib? Ex-NFL CB’s family explored

On Thursday, Yaqub Talib pled guilty to murder in relation to the fatal shooting of Michael Hickmon in April last year. If the surname sounds familiar, that is because he is the elder brother of legendary NFL cornerback Aqib Talib.

Born on February 13, 1986 in Cleveland, Ohio, Aqib Talib is the youngest of four children, his full name fittingly meaning "the last student". He has three elder siblings (by decreasing order of age), sisters Saran and Kai and brother Yaqub. Saran was born when his mother Okoro was still a teenager.

As relayed by Talib himself to the Topeka Capital-Journal, he and Yaqub were very close to one another:

"My parents, they worked a lot and stuff, so my big brother was always kinda the one at the house, telling me what to do. He kept me out of a lot of trouble and kept my head on straight."

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A brief overview of Aqib Talib's career

In high school, Aqib Talib lettered in football, basketball, and track-and-field at Berkner in Richardson, Texas. Before graduating, he was named the school's Defensive Back of the year and also made the all-district and all-city teams.

Talib soon committed to Kansas, but redshirted his freshman season. When he took the field in 2005, he immediately delivered, recording 50 tackles (40 solo) and two interceptions. However, he had his best performance as a junior, with 66 tackles (44 solo) and five interceptions (two of them returned for a touchdown), leading to an All-American nomination and the Jack Tatum Trophy.

After going to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with the 20th overall pick in 2008, he initially competed with Ronde Barber and Phillip Buchanon for a starting job, but soon joined the former in that role after the latter left for the Detroit Lions. He kept his role until being traded to the New England Patriots in the middle of 2012.

After one more season in Foxboro, Talib joined the Denver Broncos in 2014 for six years and $57 million. There he reunited with college teammate Chris Harris Jr. to establish the "No Fly Zone", a dominant secondary that helped the team win Super Bowl 50. He also had stints in the Los Angeles Rams and Miami Dolphins before retiring in 2020 and joining Fox as analyst.

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Aqib Talib's alleged involvement in brother's killing of rival coach, explained

By 2022, Aqib Talib had been set to become a prominent figure on Amazon Prime's Thursday Night Football coverage, but it abruptly ended when his brother Yaqub was arrested for Michael Hickmon's shooting death. He immediately told famed insider Ian Rapoport that he would be leaving the Amazon booth in the aftermath of the incident.

Soon, witnesses told TheBlaze's Jason Whitlock that Talib had instigated the incident by throwing a punch at Hickmon:

“Aqib started this. He was the first person to throw a punch. Out of all of the people, he was the one person who could have de-escalated the situation. He was the one person we all would’ve listened to. He could’ve stopped it all.”

Allegedly, the incident began when, with six minutes left in a game between Hickmon's Dragon Elite Academy and the Talibs' North Dallas United Bobcats, a defensive player for the latter committed a penalty, leading to a touchdown for the former. Talib became irate and started threatening the referee.

In the meantime, Hickmon was looking to retrieve his son (and quarterback)'s football, but it had been kicked into the North Dallas sidelines. The two sides exchanged words, and that was when Aqib Talib attacked Hickmon.