His ankle fully healed, Alex Cappa is back as the Bucs’ starting right guard

[Captain Fear]

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Buccaneers guard Alex Cappa missed much of the fun last season. He fractured his ankle in the wild-card playoff game against Washington and missed the final three postseason games, including the Super Bowl victory over the Chiefs.

His ankle fully healed, Cappa has returned to his familiar spot as the team’s starting right guard.

“It was fun to be back with everybody, good to be out there. I felt good,” Cappa said, via Greg Auman of TheAthletic.com. “I’ve been good for a while. The good thing is you can take it slow in the offseason and make sure you get it right, and I was able to do that.”

Backup Aaron Stinnie started at right guard after Cappa’s injury, and the Bucs didn’t miss a beat. But Cappa has made 36 starts, including the postseason, the past two seasons.

Cappa, a third-round choice in 2018, is entering the final year of his rookie deal. Another solid season will put him in line for a significant raise from either the Bucs or on the free agent market.

“I think all that stuff is dictated by what you do on the field, anyways,” Cappa said. “No matter what’s going on with that, the focus has to be on the field. I’ll let other people worry about that.”

Tampa Bay managed to keep its key free agents in the fold this offseason, so the team will have all 22 starters returning for 2021.