In a surprise move earlier today, Bucs guard Ali Marpet announced his retirement from football. His very successful 7 years in the NFL included a Pro Bowl selection and Super Bowl ring. Marpet will go down as one of the best offensive linemen in Bucs history. But how does his retirement affect the Bucs salary cap in 2022 and beyond?

Marpet was set to count $12.775 million against the salary cap in 2022. That was made up of $10M in non-guaranteed base pay and two guaranteed prorated bonuses of $400k (signing bonus) and $2.375M (restructure bonus). If Tampa Bay were to process Marpet’s retirement immediately, they would save the $10M base pay. But the Bucs would also accelerate $4.375M in prorated bonuses from future years into 2022. As a result, the net savings would amount to $5.625M.

Bucs RG Alex Cappa – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Instead, Tampa Bay will likely apply a two-step process similar to the expectation with Tom Brady’s contract. First, the team will most likely try to renegotiate Marpet’s base salary down to the veteran minimum $1.12M. That would result in an immediate savings of $8.88M when free agency opens on March 16th. Also, Marpet’s cap hit will drop from $12.775 to $3.895M, which the Bucs will carry until after June 1st.

Once June 1st passes, the Bucs can then move Marpet to the reserve/retired list. That move will negate his $1.12M base salary, leaving a cap hit of just $2.775M. The accelerated bonus hits for 2023, 2024 and 2025 will all push back to 2023 resulting in a dead cap hit of $4.375M next year.

The result for the Bucs is $10 million in cap space to use this offseason. This space could go toward the return of other free agent offensive linemen. Right now, only tackles Donovan Smith and Tristan Wirfs are under contract from the NFL’s top offensive line last season. Center Ryan Jensen and right guard Alex Cappa enter free agency in two weeks.