Buccaneers cornerback Aqib Talib was officially indicted Friday morning on felony charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

From Rotoworld.com:

The next step is to schedule hearings then a trial, where Talib could face 2-20 years in prison if convicted of firing multiple shots at his sister’s boyfriend. If he’s found not guilty, it’s not hard to imagine coach Raheem Morris going to bat for him in the Bucs front office. Considering his history, Talib will face NFL discipline regardless of the outcome.

The key here is that an indictment doesn’t mean Talib is guilty of any crime. It just means that there has been an official charge made and now both sides will build a case.

As I wrote yesterday, the league can’t punish players during the lockout but Roger Goodell is still keeping tabs on legal situations like Talib’s. The cornerback obviously has a much bigger issue on his plate than what kind of punishment Goodell is going to dole out, but it’s worth noting that he’ll probably be disciplined once his trial wraps up.

It’ll be interesting to see if he’ll serve much – if any – jail time. Usually when there’s a time frame of X amount of months/years an athlete is facing in prison (which is 2-20 years in Talib’s case), they usually wind up spending anywhere from zero to about half a second behind bars. Assuming he’s guilty of breaking the law, I doubt Talib’s situation will be any different but I could be wrong.