Ali Marpet signs, rounds out Buccaneers draft class

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have agreed to terms with second-round pick Ali Marpet, the team announced on their website. Marpet will presumably sign today, rounding out the team's draft class.

The Buccaneers traded back up into the second round to draft Marpet, a player they had targeted for a long time, especially after dominating the scouting combine.

Marpet is competing for the starting job at right guard, a competition he should win. If he doesn't, the Bucs will be forced to start Garrett Gilkey or Kadeem Edwards, which would be a bit of a problem. At least in Gilkey's case -- Edwards is more of an unknown. But then, Marpet is largely an unknown as well, even more so than most rookies. Coming from Hobarth College, Marpet's only exposure to Division-I-level players came at the Senior Bowl. He did play well there, but it's not clear how quickly he'll be able to adapt to this entirely new level of competition.