Alex Cappa
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Las Vegas Raiders offensive lineman Alex Cappa.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers showed in 2025 that depth on the offensive line is critical to them winning games, as 3 of the 5 projected starters registered career highs in missed games due to injuries: Tristan Wirfs (5 games), Luke Goedeke (6 games), and Cody Mauch (15 games).
There might be an opportunity to create some depth in 2026 with a familiar face after former Buccaneers offensive lineman Alex Cappa was released by the Las Vegas Raiders on Friday.
“Cappa spent one season with the Raiders,” Silver and Black Pride’s Bill Williamson wrote. “They signed him shortly before free agency after he was cut by Cincinnati. Cappa and Las Vegas general manager John Spytek were in Tampa Bay together. Cappa and Raiders’ part owner Tom Brady won a Super Bowl together with the Buccaneers … Cappa played in all 17 games (in 2025) with eight starts. He signed a 2-year, $11 million deal with a $2 million signing bonus. He had a salary-cap number of just over $6 million for 2026 and will incur a $1 million dead cap hit.”
It didn’t take long for someone to float the idea of Cappa returning to Tampa Bay, where he played the 1st 4 seasons of his career from 2018 to 2021, including the Super Bowl-winning season in 2020 with Brady.
“If he doesn’t land a starting job in the league, Alexa Cappa would be an upgrade as a reserve guard back home with the Bucs,” Pewter Report wrote on its official X account following Cappa’s release on Friday.
Cappa’s Play Declined Significantly in 2025
One thing that might give the Buccaneers pause is his number wasn’t too high in terms of salary, although after going 3-14 in 2025, the Raiders are in full-on rebuilding mode in 2026 with a pair of 1st round picks — including at No. 1 overall — after adding a 2nd pick by trading NFL All-Pro edge rusher Maxx Crosby to the Baltimore Ravens.
“Raider have the worst OL in the NFL and released him,
Buccaneers superfan Dave C. wrote on X. “That should tell you something.”
Cappa, usually a guard, was pressed into playing center for most of 2025 and was one of the worst in the NFL doing so. Pro Football Focus graded Cappa out at 53.5 for the season, ranking him 38th out of 49 eligible players at his position.
From NCAA Division II Star to Super Bowl Champion
Cappa, 6-foot-6 and 312 pounds, had an unusual path to making an NFL roster.
The Dublin, California, starred at NCAA Division II Humboldt State from 2014 to 2017, where he was a 4-time GNAC Offensive Lineman of the Year — the school disbanded its football program following the 2018 season.
After a dominant performance at the Senior Bowl, Cappa was projected as a 5th round pick in the 2018 NFL draft, but the Buccaneers drafted him in the 3rd round (No. 94 overall).
Cappa only played in 6 games with no starts as a rookie but started in 13 games in 2019 and started all 16 games at right guard in 2020 on the way to winning the Super Bowl.
After starting all 16 games again for the Buccaneers in 2021, Cappa signed a 4-year, $35 million free agent contract with the Cincinnati Bengals before the 2022 season.