The Incredibly Shrinking Ali Marpet
May 30th, 2022
Retired Pro Bowl left guard Ali Marpet.
Joe understands it is hard to let go. Especially when on face value, a player departing in his life makes little football or economic sense.
But here we are with former Bucs Pro Bowl left guard Ali Marpet. Marpet turned 29 shortly after he shocked the football world with his Sunday afternoon Instagram retirement.
Prime age for a prime athlete.
Marpet retired because he wanted to walk away healthy, he said. He had socked enough cash away to, in his words, live comfortably the rest of his days.
Joe had heard Marpet wanted to retire after the Bucs won the Super Bowl, but with the rest of the team coming back, he felt a responsibility to return and help the team make history with a repeat.
Joe also heard Marpet was really freaked out by the 2020 concussion that caused him to miss three games. Marpet didn’t want to be one of the many ex-NFL players wil dreary ends to their lives allegedly due to CTE.
The way Vincent Jackson ended his life, and was later found to have significant CTE damage, likely didn’t calm Marpet’s fears.
Marpet said recently he suffered from sleep apnea and hypertension due, in part he believed, to putting on so much weight to play offensive line in the NFL. Well, it appears Marpet doesn’t have to worry about the weight that much now.
Over the weekend, a photo on Instagram appeared of a topless Marpet out boating on a lake. Marpet doesn’t look like the same person. He may have lost 50-plus pounds since the season ended.
Joe knows some fans and even national media types who still believe Marpet will return. This photo demonstrates that unless he’s coaching somewhere, Marpet is done with football.
The Race to 200. https://t.co/mQ8N2xN8BS
— JoeBucsFan (@JoeBucsFan) May 29, 2022
May 30th, 2022 at 8:25 am
What a stud. What a great guy. As a selfish fan I hate that he retired in his prime. As a human, I admire the crap out of the man.
May 30th, 2022 at 8:31 am
Great guy, great teammate and great Buc..That being said, he showed he cares about others things than money and ego……
Lesson for the young people, you can´t enjoy life without health, and life is way much more bigger than a bank account, several mansions, and private jets!!!!
Congrats Ali, you are bigger than a role model!!!!!
May 30th, 2022 at 8:34 am
Thats impressive. He is working on the six
Pack there. Good for him
May 30th, 2022 at 8:40 am
I remember similar of Brad Culpeper. He was 6′, played at 300 pounds for nearly a decade. A year after retirement he was 200. It’s amazing those guys even reach their 60’s
May 30th, 2022 at 8:43 am
Enjoy life Ali!
May 30th, 2022 at 8:48 am
I totally respect his decision. I met Mat Blair, former Vikings all pro linebacker a few years before he died from CTE. He and his wife were vacationing before he entered the NFL CTE research program. We occasionally exchanged emails but eventually his wife told me Matt was in the last stages and no longer was able to keep in touch in touch with anyone. He died very soon after she gave me the news. Any player who has suffered severe brain trauma should evaluate their financial and health situations and do what is in their best interest. Like Ali, Matt was a terrific player and a super nice guy.
May 30th, 2022 at 9:01 am
Hey if he’s totally comfortable with his decision to call it quits then I’m all in his corner. Better than having a guy playing that doesn’t want to be there. By the way …he looks great!
Thanks, for everything Ali
May 30th, 2022 at 9:30 am
A friend of mine’s father played in the NFL and he used to lose 50lbs after every season and then bulk up again before the season or so I’m told.
May 30th, 2022 at 10:00 am
He made 37.5 mil in the league.
He’s gonna get a retirement and other benefits for life.
Yeah, he’s set for life. Hopefully it’s a healthy one.
Don’t date amber heard.
May 30th, 2022 at 10:20 am
Thanks for your time and thank you for taking such good care of yourself after, Ali Marpet. I hope you live 70 more years and have great health. You are a rare story, indeed.
May 30th, 2022 at 10:22 am
Good for him. I think we all wish we can do this in life but he was actually able to do it.
May 30th, 2022 at 10:24 am
At first I thought they photoshopped a picture of TBBF……then I realized I don’t have trunks like that.
Good luck, Ali…..you deserve the best out of life.
May 30th, 2022 at 10:35 am
On a personal level – I spent my whole adult life just wanting to be big and strong, lifting heavy etc. But at the end of the day, you’re really not that much different than a regular super fat American if you can’t last more than 5 minutes playing some full court basketball. When you step away, when you get a little older you realize it’s stupid. You feel infinitely better when you feel nice and light and you get AESTHETIC, when you eat right and eliminate the processed BS. When you’re a big walking fat piece of crap, you don’t feel like you can go back flips, you don’t feel bouncy, you’re just out of breath, sweaty with high BP like most people. Good for Ali, gauran-god-dam-tee he feels a thousand times better than a few yrs ago beyond just simple injury stuff
May 30th, 2022 at 10:41 am
I wish losing weight was so easy for me!
May 30th, 2022 at 10:43 am
He eats only dinner for one person now
May 30th, 2022 at 10:53 am
Bucfan4ever
“Don’t date amber heard.”
Bwaaaahaaaahahahahahahaaa
Good one!
May 30th, 2022 at 11:22 am
Man, Just mega respect for Ali. He planned it all out after evaluating the health risk. I personally know a retired player from the Atl Falcons I went to school with. He played for 10 yrs in the NFl. The guy is in his late 40’s now. He takes shots monthly for his aches and pains. has had 8 surgeries and forgets a lot of things. I mean..really forgets. So when I think of Ali doin what he did, I just think he was smart unlike a lot of players. And he saved his cash. He’s probably droppin all that unnecessary weight and gettin real healthy.
May 30th, 2022 at 11:40 am
Hopefully he didn’t put all his money in tech stocks and crypto.
May 30th, 2022 at 12:29 pm
it’s funny how fast you lose weight when you drop ring dings and ding dongs from your diet…
ali lookin” svelte af…
#KeepEatingTheZingersTho
May 30th, 2022 at 1:26 pm
He’s lucky he struggles to keep weight on.
I think Gronk is the same way.
When Refrigerator Perry retired he ballooned. Rumor had it his real weight could approach 400+ lbs.
I have a neighbor closer to 450-500 lbs. He’s about 6 feet tall or maybe six two. I take him to Publix once or twice a week. Publix is too expensive, but they have lots of electric carts. In the car I have to buckle his seat belt with the door open because he barely fits into the seat and we have to stretch out the buckle as far as it can possibly go. Speed bumps about bottom me out with a bang and I drive an old Jeep Cherokee.
May 30th, 2022 at 2:39 pm
He and Josh Hawley did it right.
May 30th, 2022 at 2:52 pm
Ali lived out his dream, play in the NFL if that was even his desire. He did it the highest level, pro bowl, SB ring, and retired in Florida, nice work young man
May 30th, 2022 at 6:08 pm
If you can’t sock enough money away for the rest of your life when you made 37.5M, something is seriously wrong.
May 30th, 2022 at 6:13 pm
Marpet put his health over his career. Having several concussion can lead to unknown health problems in the future. From what I gather, his was pretty serious.
May 30th, 2022 at 9:00 pm
Wow. It’s amazing what O lineman put their bodies through to be that large and play a sport. Not all of them, some are just naturally big guys and even put on fat when they retire. But there are quite a few that drop 100 pounds within a year of their playing days being over. That has got to take a massive toll.
May 30th, 2022 at 11:33 pm
Ripped like ruffles. Good on ya mate.
June 1st, 2022 at 5:53 am
Great to see you looking soooo good! We will certainly miss you! I remember meeting you at Women in Red and us chatting and I walked away saying “what a nice,down to earth guy!” Well you stayed that way your entire time with the Bucs and fans certainly appreciated that! I wish you nothing but happiness and success the rest of your life! Enjoy retirement and GO BUCS!!