The top two quarterbacks on the Buccaneers’ depth chart, Baker Mayfield and Kyle Trask, are currently splitting first-team reps in training camp. Without Tom Brady in the picture, expectations are very different in Tampa this season, though whichever QB wins the starting job will at least have a Pro Bowl center snapping them the ball.
Ryan Jensen, who earned Pro Bowl acclaim in 2021, suffered a major knee injury in last year’s training camp, and it was later revealed that he sustained full tears of his MCL and PCL and a partial tear of his ACL, along with meniscus damage. Although he considered retirement — he had taken out a $5MM insurance policy in the event of a career-ending injury — a stem cell treatement in Antigua allowed him to continue his playing career.
He was also able to avoid surgery, and despite missing all of the regular season in 2022, he returned to play every snap of the Bucs’ playoff loss to the Cowboys in January. However, as detailed by ESPN’s Jenna Laine, Jensen was not at full strength in that game; after all, his original projected return date was September 2023. Luckily, he did not sustain any further knee damage, and he indicated that he is now fully healthy.
“I’m feeling good. Ligaments are healthy and healed and I’m just ready to keep rolling,” Jensen said. “It’s somewhat no different than when you get a surgery done on it. All those ligaments scar in and thicken up and get strength again. … The biggest thing for me is just going to work — going to work every day and attacking something that you’re passionate about.”
Jensen, 32, is an active participant in practice, though he does not take part in every practice period and receives full days off as he and the club endeavor to maintain strength and stability in his knee. If the Bucs are to remain competitive in 2023, which many are viewing as a transition year and not a year in which the playoffs are a realistic goal, they will need to keep Jensen healthy.
Tristan Wirfs is shifting from right tackle to left tackle, free agent acquisition Matt Feiler is penciled in at left guard, rookie Cody Mauch is set to start at right guard, and 2022 second-rounder Luke Goedeke is at the top of the RT depth chart despite playing only 55 snaps there last season. As such, Jensen will be anchoring the O-line in more ways than one, and Tampa Bay hopes that his return will bolster a running game that was the worst in the league in 2022 while keeping Mayfield and/or Trask upright long enough to take advantage of the team’s still-considerable receiving talent.
Jensen is under contract through 2024 thanks to the three-year deal he signed last March, when the Bucs were gearing up for another championship push with Brady at the helm.
Baker is about to light that scoreboard up in Tampa. Woooo