RG Alex Cappa – 6-6, 305 – 25 years old – 3rd season

Cappa completes the Bucs interior offensive line trio of non-DI players, becoming the highest-drafted player ever from D-II Humboldt State. The 114th overall player on the consensus board, Cappa was selected 20 spots before that point, sliding into the late third round at No. 94 overall.

His first season in the NFL was a rocky one, albeit over just 106 snaps. But heading into year two, a notably stronger and more technically sound Cappa earned a starting job and hasn’t looked back. Yes, he’s currently the weakest link of the Bucs interior offensive line, but the third-year guard put forth a solid 2019 campaign, playing his best football over the second half of the season.

“I haven’t studied Cappa as closely as Marpet or Jensen, but I think he increased his functional strength & overall comfort on the field in year two,” Thorn said. “Better footwork, strike timing and placement. Just looked more settled in those areas and wasn’t trying to do too much. Started to see more of his game at Humboldt shine through, like the torque he can create on defenders. Had some eye-popping reps that were encouraging.”

One of the reps that stood out to Thorn was this doozy against New Orleans. If Cappa can consistently drop anchor like this, it’ll eliminate a lot of his worst reps in pass protection.

Cappa showed some impressive improvement year 1 to year 2 & solidified this IOL. This rep is just outstanding. Recovery after taking the initial jolt from the rusher is 👍

Creates leverage w/his outside strike, transitions to his anchor, torques, & finishes the 3T on his back. pic.twitter.com/cAgqJdtxZP

— Brandon Thorn (@BrandonThornNFL) January 21, 2020

Inconsistency with Cappa is not cause for concern – yet. It would have been shocking if he were elite in his first season as a starter in Tampa Bay, so the good outweighing the bad should be an exciting sign for the Bucs. Unfortunately there were still plenty of concerning reps, especially in pass protection. I didn’t see Cappa get embarrassed by many opponents, but he’s still over-matched at times by defenders who bring length and power in their pass rush.

Cappa’s biggest concern is his anchor in pass protection. That gets exposed when his strike timing and placement are off as well. Too many times he ended up going for a ride into the pocket on a bull rush or a push-pull move from an opponent.

This is a pretty good jump set, but then Cappa gets snatched on the counter move by the defender. Just doesn’t have Marpet’s grip strength to end this fight early despite a decent initial strike.

“His play strength was even further behind in ’18, but he’s clearly making strides there which is what you like to see,” Thorn said. “I think he has a chance to be a good starter. Still not there yet and I think play strength is the primary reason why. Part of that is learning and figuring out what he can and can’t do, so taking chances and getting beat is okay as long as there’s some improvement too, which I think there is.”

The good news for Cappa is that as ugly as some of those bad reps look, he also has a lot of good ones, even against high-end competition. That shows me that he has the ability to pass protect and run block at a high level, it just needs to become more consistent.

Thunderous punch to stop Jaguars defensive lineman Calais Campbell before the long-levered defensive lineman can land a move, then terrific intensity and awareness by Cappa to stay on his opponent and finish when the defender tries to work around him. There’s real pop in his hands when his strikes are on point.

Terrific awareness here to pass off Falcons defensive tackle Grady Jarrett and pick up edge rusher Vic Beasley on the E/T twist. Cappa had some battles with Jarrett and even won a few. It’s going to be a fun match-up to watch this season.

One of the reasons why Cappa is never totally out-matched is that he plays with such an edge, often looking to finish. Sometimes I think it takes a little something to rile him up, but when Cappa is getting after people, he can create movement in the run game and even put guys in the dirt.

He gets some initial help from Demar Dotson, banging down on the 3-technique D.J. Reader, but then Cappa does a terrific job staying leveraged, getting his inside hand established and eventually burying Reader. That’s not an easy man to move.

Hands inside, keeps the legs driving, creates torque, forces Jarrett off the ball just enough to create a crease. Cappa has the ability to hang with the big dogs, but it still just comes in flashes.

Another big bonus to Cappa’s game right now is that he performs relatively error free. In almost 1,000 career snaps, Cappa has committed just three penalties, including only one false start. He’s smart, tough and works hard. I’m cautiously optimistic about where he’s headed in 2020. Cappa is an average starter right now, but I think he can take another step toward “good” this season.