Don’t Expect Ali Marpet To Move Anytime Soon
May 14th, 2021
Bucs left guard Ali Marpet.
Joe vividly remembers the 2015 post-draft press conference.
Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht proclaimed that newly drafted Ali Marpet from football powerhouse Hobart College projected to be a center.
Marpet has since played three different positions across the interior of the Bucs’ offensive line. He started at right guard and played well there. He then was moved to center and his results not bad, but not lights out.
Next was left guard, where Marpet has become a rock on what may be the most underrated offensive line in the NFL.
Appearing on the “Bucs UK TV” podcast with co-hosts Tim Lewis and Alex Oldham, Marpet says he’s quite happy at left guard and hopes to stay.
“I think I have enjoyed my current position and role mostly because I like the guys I am playing next to a whole lot,” Marpet said of playing besides left tackle Donovan Smith and center Ryan Jensen. “Not that I haven’t liked playing with the right tackles and centers before.
“It’s awesome playing next to [Donovan Smith]. When we first got drafted we said, ‘Wouldn’t it be cool if we got to play next to each other someday?’ And here we are playing next to each other.
“I think just the fact that I am sandwiched by two really talented guys is awesome. So I like my current fit right now.”
Marpet talked about all sorts of things including playing with Mr. Seven Rings, how the Bucs were the perfect team to draft him, his Super Bowl experience and his desire for good restaurant recommendations in Great Britain.
Asked if, instead of Cam Brate, Tom Brady had tossed the Vince Lombardi Trophy to him at the boat parade, Marpet said he is “absolutely not confident” he would have caught the trophy. But he promised he would have been the first to dive in the water to retrieve it.
Marpet also added that it is very unlikely he will ever be lined up as a tackle to catch a touchdown pass as that would tip pitches to the defense. But his dream is to recover a fumble in the end zone.
May 14th, 2021 at 7:35 am
If it ain’t broke…..
May 14th, 2021 at 7:44 am
Our O Line really surprised me last year.
Who knew how good they would be ?
May 14th, 2021 at 8:05 am
So his dream is for his own running back to fumble? So selfish. Lol.
May 14th, 2021 at 8:26 am
I can’t believe it’s been six years since we drafted him. Wow.
May 14th, 2021 at 8:38 am
Crazy how good the o line became when the ball came out on time
May 14th, 2021 at 8:41 am
He had his chance to recover fumbles in the endzone with Jameis…..sorry, Ali.
May 14th, 2021 at 8:43 am
Jason, who says it has to be his running back that fumbles?
May 14th, 2021 at 8:58 am
So happy all the good guys on this team earned rings. Hey Joe, when do they actually receive the rings? It’s taking too long
May 14th, 2021 at 9:19 am
Best part about this article?
Mr. 7 rings.
Can we please retire that other gangly, ill-fitting, groan-inducing monstrosity of a nickname in favor of this one?
May 14th, 2021 at 9:32 am
@DingleBerry
Hurrumph Hurrumph… That tag line moniker is so annoying and played out!
May 14th, 2021 at 9:57 am
yes, please drop the excessively long string of adjectives
May 14th, 2021 at 10:11 am
They could pull him and leave the ball on the ground while Brady fakes a handoff to Jones. He can score behind Wirfs… Seriously though, Arians will have to be creative with fluke plays for big guys to score. Got to keep them motivated. This unit has to be consistent all season. Specially against Rams, Bears and Nonames. Ali is one of my favorite players
May 14th, 2021 at 10:13 am
DingleBerry:
We FINALLY agree on something! LOL!
May 14th, 2021 at 10:14 am
Moniker Mania lol lol GO BUCS!!!!!
May 14th, 2021 at 10:20 am
No one is talking about how good the Bucs’ line is…It is definitely a top 5, if not top 3 in the league.
May 14th, 2021 at 10:21 am
Baby Grace…
So you didn’t agree when I said that the Bucs are going to repeat as Super Bowl champions? And you didn’t agree when I said despite what I viewed as a couple bad draft picks that Licht is one of the best GM’s in football?
Weird. Sounds to me like you’re a troll and a fake fan.
May 14th, 2021 at 10:28 am
Last year Brian Baldinger highlighted the Bucs O line many times. Great stuff from Baldy. If anyone wants to check it out, just check Baldy’s Twitter. You will enjoy it big time. I remember Baldy highlighting Ryan Jensen on a few plays, Ryan blocked Ancilone of the Saints into the 3rd row of the stands, lol. And also another one was Jensen blocking his guy for 10 yards past the run play. GO BUCS!!!!!
May 14th, 2021 at 11:05 am
When he says recover a fumble I think he means it’s the only way for him to score a touchdown. I’m all for it and hope it happens for him. I was lucky enough to meet his whole family at the SuperBowl, such cool people especially his Dad.
May 14th, 2021 at 11:24 am
The line looked better because u addded wirfs. The line was better because they stopped committing dumb penalties ie false starts and holding and unsportsmanlike conduct. The bucs still had long developing plays but the line held up oh and the bucs brought in extra tackles and or kept gronk in to block. But sure blame jameis for every thing. Blame jameis because wirfs was not on the team. Smdh
May 14th, 2021 at 11:44 am
While the left side our line is solid with Smith and Marpet, and Wirfs is lights out on the right side, our RG and Center could be upgraded. Kind of hard to judge pass blocking when Tom Brady is our QB. He will make any line look better than it actually is. However, we could stand to upgrade at RG and Center moving forward. Our interior run blocking on that side is pretty bad, and Jansen and Cappa gets pushed around quite a bit.
May 14th, 2021 at 12:02 pm
Jensen was unquestionably one of the best centers in football last season. And Alex Cappa didn’t give up a sack the entire year, he was having a phenomenal season before he got hurt.
I was one of the main people campaigning that the O-line needed to be upgraded for years, but last year they were without a doubt a truly elite, top 5 unit. The only thing that even slightly worries me about our line is depth at tackle.
May 14th, 2021 at 12:07 pm
Not totally underrated, many people just clueless. Post Super Bowl:“Boo-hoo-hoo. We didn’t have our starting LT.” Cappa went down in the wild card and I don’t think Stinnie allowed a sack after that. One great thing is Ali can be put into the starting C position if need be. And with the addition of Hainsey, (possibly) brings in more dominant depth and future starter position with his versatility on the oline.
May 14th, 2021 at 12:15 pm
AlabamaBucsFan
Fourth in least allowed sacks.
May 14th, 2021 at 12:41 pm
Add Gronk to that list, Ali. Those max protect sets were unstoppable.
(Assuming Godwin could hold on to the ball … I haven’t let that one go, yet.)
May 14th, 2021 at 8:12 pm
Just imagine how much better everyone will be after a full winning season together. They really got in gear in the postseason and TB12 looked a lot more comfortable.
May 14th, 2021 at 10:47 pm
Good restaurants in great Britain? LOL. Lots of good restaurants around London, just not British food. All very very bland, you can only eat so many meat pies and fish & chips.