Aqib Talib is no stranger to off-field issues in the NFL but he was cleared of the most recent charge – assault with a deadly weapon – earlier this month.

It was a great relief for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers cornerback when the charge in Dallas County, Texas, was dropped. Talib said he learned he needs to be in the right place at the right time to avoid entanglements, and now he feels like he has a fresh start with first-year coach Greg Schiano and his staff.

“Clean slate, clean start,” Talib said during a visit on 790 The Zone in Atlanta, according to sportsradiointerviews.com. “Got the little situation behind me, man, so I’m just forward from now on.

“It was killing me, man. It was a bad situation where a guy had a couple lies to try to put a extra couple dollars in his pocket. But it was killing me, man. It was just a bad situation and I’m just glad it’s behind me. Just gotta get to the right place at the right time and stuff like that won’t happen to you.”

Talib was a regular during the team’s voluntary offseason workout program and believes that Schiano has quickly instilled a new attitude in the building.

“The biggest difference is, I think, the attendance,” Talib said. “We had probably like 97, 98 percent attendance since April 4, since we started our offseason program. So that’s the biggest thing. I feel like, before the season, whoever had the best offseason is probably gonna have one of the best seasons.”

Talib said things became too loose last season under former coach Raheem Morris, who was known for being a players’ coach.

“It got a little loose last year where people got a little too loose around the building,” he said. “So Schiano definitely came in and brought that order back to the building.”

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Brad Biggs covers the Bears for the Chicago Tribune