A day after being carted off the field following an apparent knee injury, Ryan Jensen’s prognosis still looks bleak.
On Friday, Buccaneers coach Todd Bowles insinuated that Jensen — Tampa Bay’s starting center — will be out a matter of months, not days.
“We don’t know the severity of it, per se, but I do know he’ll miss some significant time, up to a couple months,” Bowles said. “Whether he’ll be back later in the season, November or December, depends on what they find. But he won’t be available any time soon.”
Tampa Bay is still awaiting results of Jensen’s MRI to determine a more specific timetable.
Jensen, 31, started all 17 games for the Buccaneers last season en route to making the Pro Bowl for the first time in his eight-year NFL career. In fact, Jensen has started every game since joining Tampa Bay ahead of the 2018 season, an impressive streak that seems due for an imminent end.
Ryan Jensen is expected to miss “significant time” with an injury. Getty Images
Ryan Jensen earned his first-career Pro Bowl nod last season. Icon Sportswire via Getty ImagesJensen suffered the injury during a team period at training camp Thursday; while the golf cart made its way to retrieve Jensen, the entire Buccaneers team huddled around him, with “the whole mood of the practice changed,” according to ESPN’s Jenna Laine.
Tampa Bay re-signed Jensen to a three-year, $31 million contract this past offseason. In his absence, the Buccaneers will look to rookie Robert Hainsey or third-year pro Nick Leverett to fill the void.
