Buccaneers’ Center Starting New Career Outside of Football
Tampa Bay Buccaneers' center, Ryan Jensen, suffered a disastrous knee injury just two days into the team's training camp before the then-upcoming 2022 NFL season.
After getting the news back regarding how serious his knee injury indeed was, Jensen admitted that thoughts run through your mind that this could be the one that ends his career.
"There’s a lot of doubt in the pain when you’re laying on the field, and you’re not sure what’s wrong with your knee, but you know it’s bad,” Jensen said. “There’s definitely some thought that this might be it. I might never play football again.”
Following his injury, the initial scope of his injury wasn't known very well to the general public as the Buccaneers' staff and players kept that information close to their chest. Nevertheless, Jensen got a taste of what being retired would be like during his time rehabbing his injury before coming back to play in the Bucs' only playoff game and found that he has a drive for something other than football.
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Jensen teamed up with a home-building company, HGC Design Build, with former Buccaneer, Garrett Gilkey, as a manager and co-owner to begin expanding the company in Denver, Colorado.
“Fully organic transition into this business,” Jensen said. “We were competing against each other, wanting to be the best offensive lineman in the country for Division II. One of these friendships was born out of disliking each other.”
Creating relationships comes in all forms and leads to a number of opportunities. Having opportunities outside of football for when a player's career comes to end is something that Jensen encourages other athletes to think about.
“We’re at the pinnacle, top of the mountain at a very young age; by the time most of us get out, we’re in our early 30s,” he said. “We’ve already reached that pinnacle of life, that mountaintop. All of a sudden, that’s gone, and you’re back in the valley. You got to be ready to make that transition. Starting a couple of years in advance is important.”
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