Tampa Bay Buccaneers Starting Center Returns to Practice
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers lost their starting center, Ryan Jensen, on just the second day of training camp this year due to a knee injury. They subsequently waited to see how serious the injury was before deciding to place the Bucs' offensive line tone-setter on injured reserve on September 1st.
Since Jensen's injury, the Buccaneers' offensive line has struggled as they have dealt with moving parts along the line on their way to being one of the worst rushing teams in the NFL as well as one of the lowest-scoring offenses in the worst division in all of football.
Even with all of their struggles, it appears the Bucs have a decent chance of still making the playoffs as the fourth seed in the NFC if they can win this week against the Carolina Panthers - a team who already beat the Bucs earlier this season.
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With the result of this weekend's game to still be decided, the Bucs are hopeful that their lifeline on the offensive line will be able to return at some point to play meaningful snaps with the team as it appears he will be returning to the team today for practice.
As Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times mentioned, Jensen can be activated off of IR at any point during his 21-day practice window with the team, but the Buccaneers seem to be taking things one day at a time when it comes to his return. The last thing the team would want at this point is further injury to Jensen who has been a backbone on the offensive side of the ball.
If the Bucs are able to pull through and come away with a win this weekend, 'The Krewe' could possibly see Jensen back on the field come time for the playoffs. Jensen's status and progress should continue to be monitored up till that point, but I would say all of this is dependent on a Bucs' victory this upcoming Sunday.
Wednesday 11:15 AM update per Tampa Bay Buccaneers press release.
Jensen (6-4, 319) originally joined the Buccaneers as a free agent in 2018. He has started 65 regular season games for the Buccaneers, while also starting all six playoff games Tampa Bay has played over the last two seasons, including Super Bowl LV. Since the start of the 2020 season, Jensen has contributed to the Buccaneers offensive line that has allowed a sack on just 3.1 percent of pass plays – the best mark in the league over that span. Tampa Bay has also recorded the most games without a sack since the start of the 2020 season, with 15 such games.
Since Jensen’s arrival in 2018, Tampa Bay ranks first in the NFL in passing yards per game (298.3), second in total yards per game (390.7), second in first downs per game (22.7), third in points per game (26.5), third in yards per play (5.9) and sixth in third-down conversion percentage (43.1).
The Baltimore Ravens selected Jensen with a sixth-round selection (No. 203 overall) in the 2013 NFL Draft out of Colorado State-Pueblo. He spent his first five years in the NFL with Baltimore before signing with the Buccaneers in 2018 and has played in 100 career regular season games, making 90 starts. Prior to getting injured, his 5,307 offensive snaps from 2017-21 were the most by any NFL player during that span. The Fort Morgan, Colorado, native wears No. 66 for Tampa Bay.
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