It served him even better when he had muscle behind it. In his college career, Jensen gained about 100 pounds but didn’t lose his playing style. He went to Colorado State-Pueblo, a school that had not produced an NFL draft pick in nearly 30 years.Īs an undersized offensive tackle, Jensen had to do more than other players to survive, so he competed harder and tried to annoy opponents to get them to lose composure. He was a first-team all-state player at Fort Morgan High School in Colorado, but as a 6-foot-4, 215-pound lineman, he was offered by only two colleges, both Division II schools. More than most, Jensen made his football career happen by force of will. And Jensen wasn’t just a blocker - he was an igniter.
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Losing Jensen was a big deal because he was a Pro Bowler, the second-highest-paid center in the NFL and the key to protecting the best quarterback who ever graced a football field.
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He advised Jensen on how to deal with injuries and connected him with his personal trainer Alex Guerrero. Jensen preferred to wear a glove on his snapping hand, but Brady talked him into going bare-handed. He wanted the football snapped to him without sweat on it and explained how to avoid “swamp butt” by heaping baby powder on a hand towel, folding it twice and stuffing it between the cheeks. After some small talk, Brady got to the point. Fifteen minutes after Brady became a Buccaneer in 2020, he FaceTimed Jensen. It was especially difficult for Brady, who always had high standards for his center. “When he initially got hurt, it was a very difficult blow to our team because of what he means to our offense,” Brady tells The Athletic. The tight end whose routes and hands he trusted the most called it quits. Since last season, the coach who brought Brady to Tampa walked away. He sees the disappointment in Brady’s brows.īrady has been dealing with a lot of disappointment. He asks a favor of Brady - be nice to Robert Hainsey, the second-year player expected to replace Jensen. “Hey,” the quarterback beyond his expiration date says to him, “don’t worry, I’ve got an ACL you can have.” The first teammates Jensen sees after his conversation with Slater are quarterbacks Tom Brady and Blaine Gabbert, who come to the training room to check on him. Ryan Jensen and Tom Brady embrace on the field before their playoff game against the Cowboys on Jan. He undergoes an MRI and returns to the Bucs’ facility. Jensen is rushed to a nearby imaging center for a CT scan and ultrasound. And he never felt more vital to them all. Then there are those fans who wear his jerseys and the kids who look up to him. He thinks about the team’s owners who have invested so much in him. He thinks about those people who guide the Bucs. Standing there, awaiting the results, are general manager Jason Licht, head coach Todd Bowles, assistant coaches and a group of front office people. On a pair of crutches, Jensen makes his way out of the X-ray room. But it doesn’t hurt as much as the anger, fear and doubt he feels.Įveryone tells him he is going to be OK. It is the worst pain he has ever experienced. To prepare for an X-ray, they try to straighten his leg. As the cart approaches the training room, he tells the EMT to get out of the way - hurry! Jensen is lifted onto a cart and driven away to what sounds like a golf clap. All eyes in the crowd are on him, but Jensen feels more alone than he’s felt in 31 years. He can hear everything, which is nothing but whispering and murmuring.įor about five minutes, he is surrounded by medical personnel and teammates. His kneecap is on the side of his leg, which is bent outward in a way it is not supposed to turn.
Now the center’s knee feels like it’s riddled with bullets.īut it isn’t the pain that makes him scream. In the last period of the day, a two-minute drill, Jensen was taking on a bull rush from defensive tackle Vita Vea when defensive lineman Logan Hall lost his footing and fell on the outside of Jensen’s left leg.
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