The Buccaneers and offensive lineman Ali Marpet have agreed to restructured deal, according to Field Yates of ESPN.com (on Twitter). Now, after converting a portion of his salary into a signing bonus, the Bucs will have an extra $4.125MM to work with this year.
Marpet inked a five-year add-on with Tampa Bay in 2018. The deal — worth $55MM in total with $27.125MM in guarantees — secured one of the league’s most reliable protectors through 2023.
Marpet has been a full-time starter along the Buccaneers’ offensive line ever since being selected in the second round of the 2015 draft. A right guard during his first two years in the league, he started seeing time at center, left guard, and tackle starting in 2017. He’s repeatedly made Pro Football Focus’ Top 10 positional rankings and he’s on track to do it again in 2020. Through six games, PFF has him ranked third in the NFL.
Still only 27, Marpet’s skillset and versatility makes him one of the league’s most valuable blockers. Eventually, the Bucs will have to address his contract to put him in line with the ever-ballooning market. For now, Marpet is under contract through ’23 with $10-11MM cap figures in each season.
Crazy that this guy played Division 3 in NY
It’s impressive how many offensive linemen have been successful from small time programs and somehow have long NFL careers. Jared Veldheer, Terron Armstead for instance. Remember Brandon Fusco? Slippery Rock? Then there’s some HoFers…Larry Allen, Art Shell, Jackie Slater, Willie Roaf…it’s crazy to think of how many guys from Power 5 schools wash out of the NFL, and yet these small school guys end up earning an opportunity despite more difficult odds and less impressive college competition.
Jahri Evans and Matt Feiler each went to Bloomsburg, which is where my mother happened to attend
Evans was a beast back in the day!