“I Don’t Want To Set Him Back”

February 26th, 2020

What about me?

This is a fresh example of how the Bucs have made puzzling, misguided moves in past years that changed the course of team history.

Anyone remember when Ali Marpet was a punishing right guard in his first two seasons (2015 and 2016)?

Joe sure does. But then in 2017, the Bucs’ brain trust decided to move Marpet to center for no good reason. Yeah, they had paid J.R. Sweezy top dollar at right guard in free agency but Sweezy missed the entire previous year with a back injury and they didn’t need to keep him.

Marpet was a young, emerging player with Division III college experience who had settled in beautifully at right guard. Why mess with the guy?

Yesterday, Bucco Bruce Arians was asked about another small-school right guard, Alex Cappa, last year’s second-year starter for the Bucs. Cappa, who has the body of a right tackle, took a big sophomore leap and gained a lot of confidence.

So is Cappa a candidate for right tackle to replace Demar Dotson, Coach?

“No. He’s found his spot. He’s a really solid guard. And I don’t want to set him back and move him,” Arians said. “He’s gotten, better and better and better.

Joe will say it’s a very safe bet that Arians never would have relocated Marpet if he were running the show in 2017.

28 Responses to ““I Don’t Want To Set Him Back””

  1. Bradinator Says:

    Perfect example of “If it’s not broke, don’t fix it!” Good for Arians on Cappa.

  2. Buccaneer Bonzai Says:

    This is great news. The shifting linemen thing hurt this offense a lot the past few years.

  3. pelbuc Says:

    Let’s not forget the shifting CBs and Safeties.

  4. WyldKat Says:

    Didn’t they replace Marpet with a human turnstile that season?

  5. D-Rome Says:

    This is great news. The shifting linemen thing hurt this offense a lot the past few years.

    Yet, you were “Totally Confident” the moves the previous coaching staff made were smart ones. You’re all over the place.

  6. JimmyJack Says:

    I thought this could be a good move to put Cappa at RT if we miss the top Tackles and can draft a new G. But we are probably better off letting Cappa develoe even more. The thought of him taking another step in developement gots me excited!!

    GO BUCS!!!

  7. tmaxcon Says:

    Marpet another overrated overpaid backup atarting on bucs oline….. watch the second half of the season marpet was ragged dolled constantly and couldn’t run block to save his life. Backup nothing more but bucfan loves them some overpaid backups….

  8. tmaxcon Says:

    Bucs ring of underachievement is filled with fan favorite overrated backups

  9. JimmyJack Says:

    But also we should not compare anything OL to the Dirk Koetter regime. In three full seasons he developed zero Lineman. That’s zero guards, zero tackles and zero centers.

    Bruce Arians staff didn’t even draft a Lineman and in one training camp developed more OL(1, Cappa) then Dirk’s staff did in three entire seasons.

    Developing young players was a major issue under Dirk Koetter. It went far beyond OL……secondary for another example.

    With Bruce’s staff we are now seeing players develope. We are finally building a team now. And developement is key. Jason Licht has taken all the flack over the years but it doesn’t matter how much talent you get if your coach’s don’t know how to teach/use them.

    If this staff continues to develope young talent the Bucs will start winning as a result. Then y’all will realize that it never was the GM that was the problem.

  10. JimmyJack Says:

    Yep they are all backups. Blocking for the top raked passing team in the league.

    God your so stupid it hurts.

  11. Marine Buc Says:

    @ tmax

    PFF gave Marpet a grade of 84.5, ranking him 13th among NFL guards. His run-blocking grade of 84.4 was 5th-best in the NFL, and he was graded 84.1 in pass blocking.

  12. Marine Buc Says:

    @ tmax

    Last season Marpet was rated as the #13 guard in the NFL. He was rated #5 in run blocking in the NFL.

  13. SOEbuc Says:

    Do I have to remind everyone Cappa played with a broken arm all last season. Ppl talk about we desperately need a starting new RT but we are also sh!t for depth on oline as well. We need help in draft and FA for that.

  14. Steven007 Says:

    Haha, Trollmax, the only “ring of underachievement” is your wedding ring, either real or imagined. Love, little Stevie.

    And as JJ astutely said, your messiah didn’t compile his 5K yards behind backups obviously. You are indeed a bear of very little brain (a quote from Pooh bear as I’m sure you weren’t read to as a child).

  15. JimmyJack Says:

    SOE yes and I think the lack of depth can be directly attributed to the last regime failing to develope any OL player they touched.

    It also hurt that Bruce took over for one of the worst defenses to ever touch a field. We had to invest most of everything into defense and couldn’t address OL among other areas.

    Watford seemed to be quality depth for us last year. I’d also like to see us invest into a RT(ideally someone who could handle LT if Smith gets hurt) and keep Dotson around for T depth. I think that would be a decent start. And if we can get something out of the guys we had injured last year(Zach Bailey, and Liedke I think) then we might be looking at a decent turnaround for quality OL depth. Hopefully can even add to that with late round draft, undrafted or training camp adds too.

  16. stravenite Says:

    A lot of animosity flying around, entitled JW fans who want more of the same !. Listened to the cast saying hope was never a plan, how are we exactly going to stop ATM throwing picks and fumbling the ball if not hope ?.

  17. Stanglassman Says:

    We already tried the blow up the team every few years and get a new coach and concept. If you want to call keeping what worked and fixing problem areas like run production and RT entitled or whatever that’s fine. We just want to see it through because changing everything every other year wasn’t doing too well.

  18. tmaxcon Says:

    blah blah blah are not those the same PFF rankings you fools dismiss when it does not fit your agenda…. my eye test says ukulele boy is a backup at best.

  19. Marine Buc Says:

    @ tmax

    Your insults show your maturity. Grow up. Stop trolling. Get a life.

  20. 1Gr8Buc Says:

    Maxipad, what are your qualifications for us to trust your eye test? What experience do you have outside of living with mommy and daddy to have the time to post BS on every JBF story?

  21. donuts Says:

    my eye test says ukulele boy is a backup at best. << Do you wear Eric Dickerson style goggles by chance?

  22. Steven007 Says:

    Trollmax, your eye test only proves one thing. That you need glasses. Literally every NFL pundit disagrees with you. I think I’ll trust them over you.

  23. Chris K Says:

    Maxi pad is such a waste of space on here. I wonder if we’re the only fan site out there that continues to let a troll have so much say on its fan page? It really does distract from fans having meaningful conversation and debates. This site would be so much better if Joe just canned the trolls once and for all.

  24. SOEbuc Says:

    JimmyJack I especially hope Liedtke can come back strong. I wanted him at starting RG when Cappa was still in the dirt early on.

  25. Mike Johnson Says:

    I’ll never forget my man..Easy money Sweezy. Here in TB, He got his money for nothin and his chicks for free.

  26. tmaxcon Says:

    Chris K Says:
    February 26th, 2020 at 1:52 pm

    Maxi pad is such a waste of space on here. I wonder if we’re the only fan site out there that continues to let a troll have so much say on its fan page? It really does distract from fans having meaningful conversation and debates. This site would be so much better if Joe just canned the trolls once and for all.

    awe…. the truth hurts pal

    steve

    you are correct i am due for my annual eye exam but that does not change the fact marpet is overrated and overpaid

  27. Craig Says:

    If Marpet and Cappa were on the same side RoJo would have hole the size of a Freightliner through.

    The Bucs have a couple of good pass blocking backups, they could throw one of them in on the left side and run stunts and counters with Marpet and Cappa.

    That would make our run game almost viable. It would also give a drafted lineman time to figure out the NFL.

    Tmax, go get a lap dance from you favorite psychology major. You need to cool down and get your brain working

  28. Owlykat Says:

    I trust BA and Licht to take advantage of this great draft with Offensive Linemen and you know we have plenty of skilled position coaches to quickly develop them. However if the player’s union forces a lot less padded practice days that we need to speed development it might not look great early on in the season, but we will just develop them early on in the season.