Center Ryan Jensen returned to play in the Buccaneers’ playoff loss to the Cowboys after missing the entire regular season with a knee injury, but he hasn’t made a full return to practice this summer.
Jensen has not done any team work with the Bucs at training camp and Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times reports he wasn’t participating at all during Monday’s practice. There’s still a few weeks before Week One of the regular season, but it seems like there’s a good chance that Jensen won’t be ready to go when the Bucs head to Minnesota on September 10.
“When we go into the season, I don’t think we’re going to have anybody if they haven’t practiced,” head coach Todd Bowles said Monday. “You always prepare if somebody gets hurt or if somebody’s going to stay hurt. So we prepare that way every day, so that hasn’t changed.”
Robert Hainsey started in place of Jensen last season and he’s splitting snaps with Nick Leverett right now. Barring a major change in Jensen’s status, one of them seems likely to be snapping the ball to Baker Mayfield or Kyle Trask to kick off the season.
