Tampa Bay Buccaneers cornerback Aqib Talib is in the final stages of resolving his legal issues stemming from an incident before the 2009 regular season. Talib was alleged to have punched cab driver David Duggan on August 19, 2009. Bucs teammates Torrie Cox and Angelo Crowell were said to be in the car at the time. Both the St. Petersburg Times and Tampa Tribune wrote that the decision on Talib's case could be delayed. Joe Smith of the Times writes:

Tampa Bay Buccaneers CB Aqib Talib appears to be heading to a pre-trial intervention program to conclude his misdemeanor battery case, though it may not be finalized before Friday's scheduled status check. Talib's attorneys have filed the paperwork and assistant state attorney Richard Ripplinger, who said as long as the "I's are dotted and the T's are crossed," it should go through. It's just that the state attorney's office has other cases pending that could delay the official ruling for Talib.

Source: St. Petersburg Times - Joe Smith and Tampa Tribune - Roy Cummings

PewterReport.com's Take: Talib could have punishment from the NFL coming after the legal resolution. This is the third instance of violence in Talib's two-year career. He punched running back Cory Boyd at the Rookie Symposium in 2008. During OTA's in 2009 Talib swung his helmet at left tackle Donald Penn and inadvertently struck cornerback Torrie Cox. Talib is massively important to the Buccaneers defense and it will severely hurt the team in 2010 if he misses games due to a suspension. Tampa Bay needs Talib to stay out of trouble. Shortly after he was drafted, former Bucs head coach Jon Gruden said Talib would become the face of the franchise.