Aqib Talib is reuniting with Wade Phillips in Los Angeles after the Denver Broncos agreed to trade the star cornerback to the Rams [url=http://www.officialislanders.com/authentic-adidas-anders-lee-jersey]Anders Lee Jersey[/url] , a person with knowledge of the deal told The Associated Press.

The Rams will send Denver a mid-round pick, believed to be a fifth-rounder, in next month’s draft for the perennial Pro Bowl cornerback, said the person, who spoke off the record because the trade isn’t official until the start of the new league year Wednesday.

”Man, I’m so excited,” Talib told The Associated Press from Dallas on Thursday night. ”I can’t wait to play for Coach Sean McVay, go back with working with Wade, and playing with my young man, Marcus Peters. He’s going to bring that young energy back to me.

”I’m super excited to play with those guys. Aaron Donald is a good friend of mine, too, so I get to go from playing behind Von Miller to playing behind Aaron Donald. That’s not too shabby. I got another MVP in front of me.”

The NFL Network first reported the agreement. The Broncos had been in talks with the Patriots, 49ers and Rams about Talib, who signed a six-year [url=http://www.officialislanders.com/authentic-adidas-andrew-ladd-jersey]Andrew Ladd Jersey[/url] , $57 million deal in Denver in 2014, part of a defensive makeover that carried the team to the Super Bowl title two years ago.

In Los Angeles, Talib will reunite with Phillips, who was his defensive coordinator in Denver until last year, and will play alongside a fellow star defensive back in Peters, whom the Rams are acquiring from Kansas City .

Talib had an eventful four seasons in Denver, both on and off the field. He missed the Broncos’ visit with former President Barack Obama to celebrate their Super Bowl 50 triumph after accidentally shooting himself in the leg during a night of partying only to come back to have an All-Pro season in 2016. He was suspended for one game for fighting Michael Crabtree last season.

None of that is why the Broncos are moving on from Talib.

They needed to clear both salary cap space and room for rising cornerback Bradley Roby, who’s getting a big pay raise from about $1 million in 2017 to $8.526 million this year in the final season of his rookie contract.

On Thursday, the Broncos also picked up cornerback Chris Harris Jr.’s $1 million option, guaranteeing his 2018 salary of about $7.5 million. He’ll cost them $10.26 million against the cap in 2018.

By trading Talib, who’s due $11 million this season and $8 million next year, the Broncos will have about $35 million in salary cap space to pursue free agents, including quarterback Kirk Cousins.

Talib said Donald was the first Ram to reach out to him after word of the deal got out Thursday night. They share an agent in Todd France.

Talib said he’ll miss playing with Harris, his college teammate at Kansas [url=http://www.officialislanders.com/authentic-adidas-anthony-beauvillier-jersey]Anthony Beauvillier Jersey[/url] , and the rest of the Broncos, however.

”It’s a business, man, so them guys understand,” Talib said. ”Chris hit me up. We’re all talented corners and they couldn’t pay all of us. They got that quarterback situation they’ve got to fix.”

Talib’s departure further breaks up the ”No Fly Zone ” secondary that saw its first departure last fall when the Broncos cut safety T.J. Ward so they could play second-year safety Justin Simmons more.

Talib, who was one of the Broncos’ defensive captains last season, called his stay in Denver special.

”I’m going to miss it. It’s a one-of-a-kind group in that locker room,” Talib said. ”Von’s going to be out here in Dallas this weekend for the grand opening of my workout facility. So, I’ll get to hang out with him again. But I’m definitely going to miss it. A lot of good memories in that locker room.”

—

Shortly after winning her 40th career World Cup race on Sunday, overall champion Mikaela Shiffrin drew praise from one of her main rivals for ”taking the sport to another level.”

Beaten by 1.64 seconds in a slalom on the Podkoren course, Frida Hansdotter had mixed feelings about the American’s dominance.

”It’s frustrating, but it is also good for the sport,” said the Swede, the only skier other than Shiffrin to win the season-long World Cup slalom title in the past five years.

Shiffrin has won 20 of the last 25 slaloms she competed in [url=http://www.kansascitychiefsteamonline.com/patrick-mahomes-ii-jersey]Authentic Patrick Mahomes Jersey[/url] , and finished on the podium in four of the other five races. Her 29 slalom wins in total leaves her six short of the record set by Austria’s Marlies Schild.

”She is super fast,” Hansdotter said. ”All of us want to ski faster than her but she is on another level. We need to train harder and ski faster.”

The Olympic slalom champion certainly was fast while taking a 1.47-second lead in Sunday’s opening leg, which Shiffrin called ”maybe the best run of slalom I have ever done in a race.”

It was the fourth straight slalom race where Shiffrin held a first-run lead of more than a second, a huge margin in a sport often decided by hundredths of a second.

”I let it go down the hill and I am really, really happy with my skiing that run,” said Shiffrin, who also triumphed in Saturday’s giant slalom on the same course. ”I am always looking to do the skiing that I do in training. That feels really good, it’s confident, it’s flowing. The surface is incredible and froze overnight so it’s just so much fun to ski.”

Shiffrin posted the third-fastest time in the final leg and beat Hansdotter once again, while Wendy Holdener was 1.87 behind in third for the Swiss skier’s 13nd career slalom podium without winning – a World Cup record.

”Sometimes it’s frustrating but it is still a good fight,” Holdener said.

Petra Vlhova of Slovakia, the only skier to beat Shiffrin in a slalom this season, was 2.18 behind in fourth.

The result put the American level with Sweden great Ingemar Stenmark for the number of World Cup victories before turning 23.

Only Annemarie Moser-Proell won more races (41) at that age, and Shiffrin can match the Austrian great’s record at a night slalom in Flachau on Tuesday.

”I have so much fun skiing today [url=http://www.officialknightsproshop.com/authentic-adidas-william-karlsson-jersey]William Karlsson Jersey[/url] ,” said Shiffrin, who has won seven of the last eight races, including all four in 2018. ”I feel so like in a good place, it doesn’t feel like I am dreaming, it doesn’t feel like it’s something crazy that’s happening. It just feels like I am skiing really well and I am starting to feel that in the races more and more.”

Her two wins this weekend easily earned Shiffrin the Golden Fox Trophy, which adds the slalom results to those of Saturday’s GS.

It was another confirmation that Shiffrin, initially excelling in slalom, has become a consistent winner in both technical disciplines.

”That’s huge, that has been one of my goals since forever,” Shiffrin said. ”So it’s so cool now that I can be a contender for the win in both slalom and GS.”

Shiffrin’s triumphant run has seen her lead in the overall standings increase to 721 points over second-place Holdener, while she leads Vlhova in the slalom standings by 235 points.

Not that she will take anything for granted because, as Shiffrin said, ”there are quite a few who have the ability to win. It’s still competition.”