In The Wake Of Ali Marpet Leaving The Bucs
February 27th, 2022
Pro Bowl LG Ali Marpet.
Joe was as shocked as the next guy when he got an alert that Bucs Pro Bowl left guard Ali Marpet has retired. Joe spoke with him at the Pro Bowl last month in Las Vegas and there was zero inkling or sign that he was about to wear a pair of shoulder pads for the last time.
It’s going to hurt losing Marpet, but if the Bucs can take a hit anywhere and keep their heads above water, it’s at guard.
Joe will guess the status of how the Bucs view Alex Cappa and Aaron Stinnie is totally different now. Both are free agents. Joe figured one of them would stay (likely Stinnie) and the other would go to Cincinnati.
Now, Joe has a hunch both will stay. And Stinnie likely will be your new starting left guard.
No, it is never a good thing to lose a Pro Bowl offensive lineman, especially a class act like Marpet.. Remember, Stinnie filled in for Cappa in the 2020 playoffs when Cappa broke his ankle in the opening round win over Washington. The way Stinnie played, you never knew he was a backup.
If this were Shaq Barrett or Vita Vea or Lavonte David, it would have hurt a lot worse. That’s no knock on Marpet at all, that’s actually a credit to Cappa and Stinnie.
Now Joe wonders if Ryan Jensen will be a priority to keep one more season?
February 27th, 2022 at 5:03 pm
Ali will be missed for sure. But more money to get
R. wilson
February 27th, 2022 at 5:06 pm
I disagree, the dropoff between Marpet and any other guard on the team is giant. You are correct in that offensive guard is a position where you can more easily cover-up losing a top guy, but Marpet is in reality an all-pro level player, one of the best of the best.
From looking at his cap number, I believe you’re freeing up around $10m, which should be more than enough to keep Cappa if you want to go that route. But man, what a drop off.
Also, now think about how much time in Marpets career was wasted trying to make him a center. I hope the reason he didn’t retire is because they wanted him to move back to center.
February 27th, 2022 at 5:09 pm
Wow, didn’t see this coming! Changes everything with free agency. Really need to make Jensen & Cappa a priority now along with Stinnie as well. Especially since there will be a new QB under center. Ughhhhh, this one hurts!
February 27th, 2022 at 5:12 pm
Joe once posted how the “Brady Effect” would benefit the Buccaneers organization long after Tom retired.
APPARENTLY NOT.
I think we’ll see more people leave the team. I think we have to be grateful we went “all out” to win a 2nd Super Bowl and made a huge effort to make a back-to-back run. BUT… I think now we’re going to see the “fallout” of those decisions and with Brady retiring.
I think this team is going to regress to major REBUILD MODE for the next 5 years.
February 27th, 2022 at 5:16 pm
Marpet was going to have a $12,775,000 cap hit this year but we don’t save all of that because he has a dead cap hit of $7,150,000. Of course just like Brady if they make his retirement official post June 1st they can push alot of the dead cap hit to next year.
February 27th, 2022 at 5:16 pm
I have complete faith in Licht drafting a replacement, but even with as good as Marpet was in his rookie year, he was a lot better later in his career. Still, personally, I’d probably let Cappa walk unless he’s around $6m, and I suspect he’ll get a good amount more than that, but I’m not convinced he’s anything more than an average guard helped by outstanding talent around him, and I think Licht could draft another average guy in the 2nd. Although, in fairness to Cappa, he was very much a project and ended up earning his spot and has gotten better, so there’s nothing to say he can’t still get better.
February 27th, 2022 at 5:17 pm
I doubt it would be a move back to center. If Ali voiced his displeasure the Bucs would have been like “Nah man, we were just kidding”. I’m not going to speculate at this point. If Ali doesn’t end up giving a specific reason perhaps he just saw what has happened to some of these guys that played a little too long or took too many shots. Keep in mind that Ali and the whole team got a first hand look at what crazy looks like with AB. We’ve recently been seeing many players still amongst the top at their position retiring early. They have to be shook by the Vincent Jackson tragedy and many others. I cried over VJax. I’m not ashamed to admit that. He was one of the most caring down to Earth people. Gave so darn much to the TB area. So tough to learn about his struggles. The reality of CTE has changed how players think about their careers. Understandably so.
February 27th, 2022 at 5:21 pm
cmurda – I don’t actually think they were asking him to move, I was just throwing that in there mostly as a smarta– comment because of the time they wasted trying to make him a center and how much I hated that, because he would have been an all-pro earlier in his career had they not done that.
February 27th, 2022 at 5:22 pm
This affects the center position also….at least as far as backup scenarios go…..also means if we don’t keep Jensen we need a G/C in the draft…..
It’s always the unexpected that hurts the most….
I suspect the concussions convinced Ali to retire while he was still healthy….
I wish him the best.
February 27th, 2022 at 5:22 pm
This team will be lucky to win 6 games next year.
February 27th, 2022 at 5:25 pm
Maybe TB12 knew he was retiring that’s why he walked.
February 27th, 2022 at 5:29 pm
Timing is weird. More to the story somewhere. Just speculating and hope I’m wrong but serious illness maybe? Hope not. Wish you all the best in life Ali…sad to see you go! Hope it’s not the start of a mass exodus…
February 27th, 2022 at 5:31 pm
Ouch – you don’t replace AllPro’s with backups and expect to keep rolling – this will sting if not addressed in FA and or the draft
February 27th, 2022 at 5:33 pm
Stinnie just heard the cash register ring as he now is negotiating a contract to be a potential starter and not a backup. Great timing for him $$$$
February 27th, 2022 at 5:36 pm
Wow.
WTF?
That hurts.
Thanks for the years of good play Ali. Best of luck on whatever is next.
February 27th, 2022 at 6:10 pm
Lets see we need 3 o-lineman, 2 defensive backfield, 2 running backs, 2 tight ends, 2 defensive lineman, 1 linebacker, 1 edge rusher, 1 wide receiver and 1 quarterback. Other than that we are in pretty good shape.
February 27th, 2022 at 6:15 pm
Smart guy. Ali won a SB and went to the pro bowl Nothing else left. I think the guy wants to get out with all his marbles intact. Smart move by him and I wish him the best. I’m startin to smell that 500 year real strong.
February 27th, 2022 at 6:53 pm
Chris jones was tossing Stinnie around in the playoffs. Go back and watch
February 27th, 2022 at 9:53 pm
Let the dominos role…we will be set back until at least another 10 years. The reality is with what is happening around us is more of my concern at the moment for me that it kinda erases what happens next. Go Bucs. Prayers.
February 27th, 2022 at 10:23 pm
I still think it’s Cappa or Stinnie
To me, this puts more of a priority on retaining Jensen, otherwise they are looking at a lot of change on the interior of their line
February 28th, 2022 at 4:42 am
Ali will Unretire to play with Brady in SF
February 28th, 2022 at 7:26 am
Not that I agree, but some of the guys at the Sports Bar said that Brady knew Marpet was going to retire, and said one of the reasons Marpet retired is Arians~!
I have to admit that Marpet’s retirement caught me totally by surprise.