Retired Bucs guard Ali Marpet.

Remember when Bucco Bruce Arians said repeatedly how proud he was of the Buccaneers for “beating the virus” and adhering to all COVID restrictions of the 2020 Super Bowl season in a unified manner?

A former Tampa Bay captain shared a different perspective.

Retired guard Ali Marpet was a guest of The Beer Money Podcast this year and talked about playing through COVID times.

Marpet was asked if teammates violated COVID rules. Co-host Ben Kapaldo asked if players were “going out at night” and if teammates were policing each other with comments like, ‘Hey, why the hell are you doing that? We have a season to worry about.’

“Did you ever hear anything about anything like that or were guys pretty responsible with their time?” Kapaldo asked.

Marpet said the Bucs had players who didn’t follow the rules. Some were greater offeners than others.

“So one thing, Florida was open, right? Pretty much,” Marpet began. “I think there were some [cities] where there wasn’t much to do anyway. So there wasn’t opportunity to [break team COVID restrictions]. Like in Florida, there was plenty of opportunity.

“So yes, I know [of teammates] that were not staying within the protocols, and the protocols were kind of absurd. So, you know, there were guys that were not within the protocol. And guys that were like serial offenders, you’d be like, ‘Dude, like take it easy. Be smart about this.’ And those conversations happened, for sure.”

As usual with most things NFL, things are not necessarily as they appear and the truth takes years to emerge.

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