Surprise Buccaneers retirement spells disaster for the offense

As if the offseason couldn’t get even worse for the Buccaneers, top-tier left guard Ali Marpet has added his name to the retirement list.

Well, this was unexpected. How we got to the point where the Buccaneers have lost yet another All-Pro level player is beyond us.

According to Greg Auman on Twitter, Bucs guard Ali Marpet is retiring. This news comes as a complete surprise for a guy that still had a few years left on his deal and is only 28-years old, but this is life in the NFL.

This puts a major new wrench into the offseason for Tampa.

Not only do the Bucs have to find a replacement for Tom Brady, but they could be stuck in a position where they lose their best two interior offensive linemen for 2022. Just losing Ryan Jensen or Marpet would hurt on its own, but coupling the likely loss of both with no consistent quarterback is a recipe for disaster.

Tampa will now probably have to look towards the draft with renewed interested, but here is where the move puts the Bucs for now:

Alex Cappa likely gets a new contract. The prospect of replacing the entire interior line is just too much for a team that thinks it can still be relevant. The Bucs also have additional options in Aaron Stinnie and Robert Hainsey, so it’s not like they don’t have any depth at the position, but rest assured that they will spend at least some draft capital to beef the unit up before the season starts.

Still, putting a bunch of new starters into these roles during a year like 2022 doesn’t inspire much confidence in the performance of the offense.

Moves like this always come as a major surprise, especially when guys like Marpet were playing at such a high level. The Buccaneers are now forced to replace one of the most important members of their roster over the past few years, and Marpet retires as one of the best linemen in Bucs history.

Tampa is going to miss Ali Marpet very much.

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