Per Jenna Laine from ESPN, the Tampa Bay Bucs have officially moved guard Ali Marpet onto the NFL’s Reserve/Retired list. The transaction officially removes Marpet from the team’s active roster. Additionally, the move helps the team clear cap space as they prepare to move under the NFL salary cap by March 16th.

Marpet was due to count $12,775,000 against the 2022 salary cap. This move voids the base salary component of Marpet’s cap hit, while accelerating some prorated bonus money from future years. Overall, the team saves $5,625,000 in salary cap space this year. While Tampa Bay could have waited until June 2nd to process the move and saved more money against the cap in 2022, it would have left dead money on 2023’s cap situation. The team elected to take the larger cap hit in 2022 to have a cleaner sheet in 2023.

Marpet spent his entire 7-year career with Tampa Bay after being drafted in the second round out of Hobart College in 2015. Marpet started 101 games over his career while earning a Pro Bowl in 2021. His absence leaves the Bucs with a hole in their starting offensive line. Two more open spots could be on the way, as center Ryan Jensen and right guard Alex Cappa are both free agents.