Alex Cappa Struggling?
June 30th, 2019
Not progressing, says ESPN.
For those Bucs fans whose favorite recreation is to howl about the Bucs’ offensive line, loosen up those vocal cords.
It seems the pride of Humboldt State, Alex Cappa, is not catching on as the Bucs would have hoped with right guard up for grabs in a few weeks.
Per Jenna Laine of ESPN, it seems the 2018 third-round pick is a question mark.
It would not shock me if the Bucs make more moves to their interior offensive line. I’ve been told that Alex Cappa still isn’t where they’d like him to be yet. Evan Smith is also still recovering from torn labrums in both hips. https://t.co/1b0eltwxsV
— JennaLaineESPN (@JennaLaineESPN) June 28, 2019
This is not comforting to Joe. Frankly, Joe saw caution flags last year.
Caleb Benenoch was unspeakably bad at right guard. Cappa had every shred of an opportunity to unseat Benenoch, yet he struggled just to get on the field. Right there told Joe that Cappa may not be that guy for some time.
And Joe sort of leans that Evan Smith may not return. He is due $2 million in bonus cash if he makes the 53-man roster. The way the Bucs are jammed up against the cap, $2 million is a nice chunk of change.
Cappa was lauded for being “violent” and “nasty” coming out of college. Well, so too is a bartender at a biker bar in Pinellas Park. Joe doesn’t see too many NFL teams trolling biker bars for offensive line help. Besides, it’s probably illegal to bring ax handles and nunchucks onto the field of play.
June 30th, 2019 at 1:00 am
“Somebody stick steroids into this weak girly man
This bust is soft
How is Jensens back? The red headed JR Sweeney will be lucky to play 8 games
Next year we draft 4 secondary players again? 3 years in a row?
#BlameJameis”
Kobe Faker
June 30th, 2019 at 3:14 am
Imagine if our GM traded up two spots and drafted Quinton Nelson. Our offensive line would be set, and Licht wouldn’t have drafted Rojo and MJ Stewart
June 30th, 2019 at 3:42 am
This is a troubling GM failure. Most teams stock their O-lines with mid-to low round draftees. Very few follow the Cowboys’ use of multiple first round choices.in fact, the Cowboys are no longer doing that because it consumes too much draft capital that could be better used on other positions. Usually there are a couple of high picks surrounded by some high-effort folks.
But you have to hit on the low round picks and free agents.
Licht hit on two second rounders, with Ali Marpet turning into an outstanding pick. But he missed on the midrounders. Not to worry, he missed on the low rounders too. And the free agents. Other than his five-year history of making bad O-line choices everything is solid.
You can’t blame Cappa. His athletic spider graph was poor. Maybe he aced the interview with aggressive, mean tempered answers. But whereas Marpet is fast and strong and nasty, Cappa is just nasty. At best. Don’t take it out on him, blame the one who selected him.
And I want to like Licht as well. But scoreboard. A few years ago we all saw that Jackson had little in the tank and we needed WR help. Licht didn’t. Then RB. And safety. Don’t get started on DE. And now O-line.
It isn’t that no one could see this coming. Everyone did, in the stands at least. So why doesn’t this GM?
It’s not the question that sucks, it’s the answer.
June 30th, 2019 at 3:55 am
Licht intentionally does the opposite of what fans want.
We all wanted Doug Martin cut. We kept him. We all wanted DE’s, Licht drafted VHIII, ASJ, Roberto Aguayo, Cappa, and others.
We have all been crying about the O-Line since Schiano!
We could have drafted a RG last year! We got MJ Stewart.
We could have drafted a RG last year! We got Rojo “the twinkle toe” hoe.
If we had kept Logan Mankins instead of forcing him to retire to sign JR Sweazy, we would be a true NFL organization today.
@joe please ask Licht if he forced Logan to retire because he wanted to replace him? I am sure of it! And it set our franchise back years!
We had Logan Mankins! One of the best guards in NFL history! And he was coaching Ali and Donovan.
June 30th, 2019 at 4:08 am
he might just be a lumberjack and not an o-lineman…
dam shame…
June 30th, 2019 at 4:38 am
Did I mention that Richie Incognito WAS available for a cool 1mil per year? That’s uno mil for all the illegal flooding the area 😉
I think I’ll be splitting time watching the Raiders in a few weeks. At least Gruden knows how to build a team and win.
And let’s not forget the brilliant buc fans didn’t want Gruden either, they ran him out of town too with their outstanding fb IQs. Just like they’re trying to do with Jameis but wtfdik
June 30th, 2019 at 4:42 am
Well it would not be the first time Licht selected a bust on day 2 of the draft….
June 30th, 2019 at 5:46 am
Excellent post Lou. Bucs’ TEAM-BUILDING escapades over this past decade (at least) haven’t exactly set the world on fire.
Agree with Joe that Evan Smith most likely won’t be here this season. At 33 with 2 bad hips it doesn’t look very promising. Cappa was never the answer IMO; he’s yet another waste of a valuable (3rd rnd) draft pick by our shaky GM.
BA doesn’t seem to be all that worried about our OLine, at least at this point. He knows full well that there’ll be some quality veteran OLinemen available come August & September (same with RBs). Getting out of the salary Cap he11 hole that Jason dug hasn’t been easy, but they’ve been patient & it’s slowly working out.
Spotrac says that our Top-51 situation now has us with $8.3 mil available, and still needing to sign White ($5.3 mil), Dean ($0.7 mil) and LeRibeus (probably not very much). But in those Top-51 we’ve got JPP listed (potential savings of $7.4 mil there if he goes onto NFI list for the season & doesn’t make his remaining salary), Evan Smith ($2 mil potential saving), Santos ($0.8 mil potential saving) and actually a couple of others who likely won’t make the final 53-man roster. IOW, Bucs have enough right now to sign White, Dean & Ribeus plus enough potential saving to sign 1-2 veteran OLinemen AND a veteran RB. The sky really hasn’t fallen … yet.
June 30th, 2019 at 6:01 am
We are a long way from our final roster…..patience is required.
June 30th, 2019 at 6:11 am
DB55- I ain’t a-scared! I’ll take Richie. At least you know what you’ve got. We need football players, not social workers with good hair and an “attitude” !
June 30th, 2019 at 6:21 am
All I know is JW better throw for 4k, 40tds, 10 picks and the Bucs make the playoffs with this sorry oline and run game. Yeah, it’s JW fault…lol.
June 30th, 2019 at 6:29 am
Capps needs more time to develop he isn’t as far along as Marpet was five him time under real coaching calm down let’s go Bucs
June 30th, 2019 at 6:32 am
Who didn’t see this coming?
Ofcourse he’s struggling. He’s not good.
June 30th, 2019 at 6:35 am
@bigz
Which is more likely:
Winston throwing 10 picks the entire season
Or
Winston throwing 10 picks by week 8?
If I were a betting man I’d take the latter.
June 30th, 2019 at 6:52 am
This is not good news at all. Starting with last year, I think a lot of had hoped thta Cappa as development player/fairly low draft pick could develop. At the very least you’d want him for depth. Not a good sign for protecting the QB or getting a running game going. Hopefully they can get serviceable guys fast. Logan Mankins was a nice add, and looking back, maybe we’d take a guy like Goz now who wasn’t looked at very nicely when he left.
June 30th, 2019 at 7:06 am
This is all on the GM. We had this problem at right guard last year and it was never addressed. The problem will not go away by ignoring it.
June 30th, 2019 at 7:44 am
Thanks DR. For providing a glimmer of hope among such negativity.
June 30th, 2019 at 7:46 am
Let’s cross train him with this new staff before we give up on him (Cappa), maybe he’s not a right guard but instead a right tackle, we need quality starters and depth across this O/line, I believe we will begin to straighten this mess out this season, # 3 draft pick 2020 (right guard)! Go Bucs Go Shuy!
June 30th, 2019 at 7:47 am
Huge reach of a pick. Could have had him as a FA and his failure wouldn’t have disappointed.
June 30th, 2019 at 7:47 am
What is it with Jason Licht and Offensive Linemen…
I’ll give him credit, he seems to have an eye for WRs and LBs…But his track record for evaluating O linemen has been pretty bad his entire time in Tampa; the exception obviously being Donovan and Ali…In the case of Cappa, a 3rd round pick for an offensive linemen hypothetically should be imo a day 1 starter, not an developmental project…. Thinking Cappa could come in and do what Ali did was just an asinine assumption…
Licht seems like a very nice guy and all but far too many of his draft picks and free agent signees have been absolute flops…How he keeps avoiding the axe is beyond me…
June 30th, 2019 at 7:53 am
The Bucs brought in UDFA Zach Bailey from S.C.. This kid is better then Cappa will ever be. You see he played in the SEC, a real football program that played against real talent during his career. He went undrafted coming off a broken fib last year. He’s totally healthy now, and will be one to watch when the pads come on. A natural guard, won’t have to figure out what he is like Cappa. Keep an eye on this kid, he’s the real deal.
June 30th, 2019 at 8:14 am
Any scout who even looks at a Division 3 player should be fired.
These old time scouts have their walls decorated with plaques and pictures with these Division 3 coaches and players remembering the one time 17 years ago that they discovered a little known player who actually made a NFL roster.
Their time has passed, time to hire a young and brilliant GM like Chris Simms, who can do an in depth and independent analysis and choose big time talent from major football programs.
The new labor rules don’t allow the NFL coaches the time and ability to select raw talent and coach them up. New players should have spent at least 3 years in a major university weight program with coaches that are serious professionals. Their fundamentals should be rock solid, day one.
Let the major universities be talent scouts and let them churn out a finished product. There is a good reason why a player with great measureables is not playing for a good school. Let’s not find out the hard way.
June 30th, 2019 at 8:35 am
One of the other sites did a comparison to Ali Marpet when Cappa was drafted. His measurable were nowhere near as good. Licht always wants to be the smartest GM in the league with picks like Cappa and Aguayo and these choices all seem to backfire. It wasn’t worth it to keep him around as GM just to land Arians. This roster is a mess because of him and he should have been fired over a year ago.
June 30th, 2019 at 8:41 am
Why is Light not unemployed !! WHY?
June 30th, 2019 at 8:42 am
Can’t wait for the draft, amirite boys?!
June 30th, 2019 at 8:43 am
D3 players & kickers and ppl wonder why the bucs are gawd awful
June 30th, 2019 at 8:52 am
Cappa does not have the frame and power to be a NFL starter….his natural weight is easily 60 lbs less…he is just a tall guy
June 30th, 2019 at 9:46 am
There was a podcast last week, not on JBF, where the hosts were not Cappa fans. I suspect Jenna heard the podcast and that is her source.
But those guys were voicing outsider opinions, so don’t believe this story for a second. … Lotta leaps you’re making there. –Joe
June 30th, 2019 at 9:46 am
First of all Cappa is a Tackle; not a Guard. They need to move him now to learning NFL RT. Second, Liedtke is a Veteran Guard and should be the front runner for RT and let him compete with Zach Bailey and Earl Watford (who can also be a backup for OT if needed and already knows BA’s Offense). Also they need to cut E. Smith now and replace him with Veteran Center/Guard Josh LeRibeus (who was good enough to start at Center for the Saints and played Guard for the Redskins).
June 30th, 2019 at 9:47 am
A lot of great players came from D3. Can’t tell the trolls that though.
June 30th, 2019 at 9:50 am
Lou. Says:
June 30th, 2019 at 3:42 am
“This is a troubling GM failure. ”
If Jenna cannot name her source, it has no credence. Cappa will be more than fine.
Slow news period, so the media is trying to create the news.
June 30th, 2019 at 9:58 am
BA was in charge of this draft. I am assuming BA prioritized what he HAD to have versus what he wanted. Can only fix a limited number of holes per year. We can design plays and OL blocking schemes to support weak positions; using 2 TE sets with one in motion to chip block before going out as a dump off option for QB, double team blocking scheme with either the center or RT to support RG, going to a man run blocking for a quicker read for the RB, and designing in short passing options for every pass play for QB to throw the ball quicker if needed.
June 30th, 2019 at 10:00 am
Ben asked: “Why is Light not unemployed !! WHY?”
Well I think the obvious answer is that he managed to get the wheels moving on bringing Arians in…….. If he could not secure Bucco Bruce and get Arians to actually have agreed to sign on its likely he would have been shown the door but of course that assumes the use of logic and reasoning from the Glazer lads which is something that has been lacking at One Buc since Malcolm got the stroke and the lads said Bon Vovage to Chuckie…..
June 30th, 2019 at 10:19 am
Just can’t seem to say it loud enough, “CAPPA IS NOT A GUARD”
Square peg round hole
Although Liedtke played well at RT during last seasons preseason, “HE’S NOT A TACKLE”
So, what do we do? I GOT IT ..let’s put Cappa at RT, and Liedtke at RG
June 30th, 2019 at 10:20 am
Shocking. This, in my opinion, was one of the biggest Licht screw ups. This guy was lucky to get drafted and we draft him in the 3rd?
June 30th, 2019 at 10:23 am
What happened to…you can’t judge interior line until you put on pads? I guess…that was just talk.
June 30th, 2019 at 10:55 am
This is what happens when you draft a guy out of a small school and then try to force him into the starting lineup, going up against NFL players. Just because it happened with Ali Marpet doesn’t mean it will happen again, one has to play the odds. The odds say that you draft oline out of reputable programs.
June 30th, 2019 at 10:58 am
I’ll withhold judgment for the Big Uglies until the pads come on.
June 30th, 2019 at 10:58 am
Let’s see how we do with the worst running game and 26th ranked line this season. After 5 Jason drafts here we sit
June 30th, 2019 at 11:06 am
Bucs are a long way from the post season. Let alone the super bowl.
June 30th, 2019 at 11:48 am
Cappa was violent and nasty playing against Div. III defensive tackles that were 6’ and weighed 245 lbs… What a total freaking JOKE!!!
June 30th, 2019 at 12:23 pm
TexBuc said, “Can only fix a limited number of holes per year”
Agree, but why fix the same hole every year?
June 30th, 2019 at 12:56 pm
Buc
He was signed by Oakland the non-friendly pirates
June 30th, 2019 at 1:01 pm
La Cappa el matador “ole homie!!!”
June 30th, 2019 at 3:20 pm
Gump is an idiot for passing on crazy Richie. Cappa was a monster against Div III opponents, but there is a reason the guy didn’t play for a major program. Let’s be honest even UDFAs in the SEC are better. But noooooo Gump had to outsmart himself yet again. ( for the record Marpet is a journeyman Guard and sub standard center so I don’t see his drafting as a steal like everyone says). Bruce has a lot of work fixing the O-line before the start of the season and will really have to game plan to deal with the poor run blocking.
Bucs are going into yet another season with severe problems in critical areas, why is Gump still here?
June 30th, 2019 at 4:11 pm
I think the bucs should troll biker bars for OL help.
June 30th, 2019 at 6:22 pm
Who told her this and while I agree you guys cultivate relationships and ultimately get good sources for info but I’ll believe it when I see it. Makes no sense to put this out while the players are away on vacation. Guess you wont really be able to hide progression once training camp is here so I’ll reserve judgment and not take media as the see all know all foremost experts they want us to think they are.
I want to literally see it and be able to say wow someone is actually worse than caleb Benenoch before accepting this as fact
June 30th, 2019 at 6:46 pm
This is silly. They haven’t even put pads on
June 30th, 2019 at 7:18 pm
Didnt Cappa play Tackle in collage? Practice squad. We still need a RT and RG.
June 30th, 2019 at 8:37 pm
It’s Jamies fault why he is struggling!!!!!
June 30th, 2019 at 11:13 pm
My man Licht Weight…thinking he could trade up for the next small school “gem” a la Marpet ( who has been good…not great )…fell in love with a fella rag dolling 215 lb. future UPS loaders as The Joes’ might say. The Bucs led by BA will have to win/turn around the ship in spite of Licht Weight. He truly has become the little brother in desperate need of a bailout from big brother Bruce.
June 30th, 2019 at 11:13 pm
What another bust? Cap trouble, horrible free agents. How does he have a job..
I wish the media would bring this up with the weak ass glazers