Right now, Baker Mayfield has been officially named the starting quarterback and he has to be the short term answer considering the NFC South will be a lot tougher than last year.

Derek Carr will lead the Saints, Bryce Young was the No.1 overall pick for the Panthers and the Falcons are intriguing with Desmond Ridder. However, a massive injury could derail the Buccaneers’ hopes.

Ryan Jensen will miss the entire 2023 season with the Buccaneers

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers confirmed Ryan Jensen will be out for the entire season. The Pro Bowl center hasn’t been able to recover from the knee problems which appeared last year at training camp.

As a consequence, Jensen was already placed on the season-ending injured reserve list and, in terrible news, this development could represent the end of his NFL career.

“It breaks my heart. There’s nothing more that I wanna do than be a part of this team. This organization has changed my life. Unfortunately, my knee wasn’t progressing in an upward, positive way. I fought my butt off. I put more work in this offseason than probably my entire career. It just wasn’t responding how it needed to respond for me to go out there and play at a high level.”

Ryan Jensen is 32-years old and was drafted by the Baltimore Ravens in the sixth round of the 2013 NFL Draft. In 2018, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers signed him and was a key factor for Tom Brady to win Super Bowl LV. He was named to the Pro Bowl in 2021.

Last year, the knee injuries were brutal. Anterior cruciate ligament, posterior cruciate ligament, medial collateral ligament, meniscus and fractured tibial head and cartilage.

That’s why Jensen missed the the entire 2022 regular season but, when he was asked to undergo surgery, the center said no. In fact, Ryan decided to come back and play in the Wild Card game against the Dallas Cowboys. It was Brady’s final game.

Though retirement is a big possibility, Ryan Jensen will not give up. “I’m gonna fight and do whatever I’ve gotta do to get this knee healthy. Right now, it’s just time and doing what we need to do to get it feeling better.”

Like all great competitors, Brady demands nothing but the highest standards from his teammates. Sometimes, that means going the extra mile and making some adjustments to their routines.

Last year, a hilarious report stated that TomBrady literally asked his centers to wear a towel and some powder to prevent their but sweats lead to fumbled snaps. Needless to say, Jensen wasn’t the exception to that rule, and he knew that was coming.

Tom Brady’s Particular Demands

“He started talking about the sweat and what he’s had centers do in the past. I knew it was coming. I’d seen an article last year or so talking about just that so I knew that conversation was going to be had,” Jensen told the Tampa Bay Times.

The big man went on to clarify that he’d do whatever it takes to win a Super Bowl, and he knows no one in the NFL is more suited for that than Tom Brady. That’s why he agreed without any kind of hesitation.

“It’s an adjustment a little bit having a towel down the rear side, but if that’s what Tom wants and that’s going to help him be a better quarterback, I’m gonna do what I have to do. It’s been an easy adjustment. The first couple it was a little uncomfortable, but just like anything you get used to it,” he added.

Not So Bad At All For Jensen

Jensen went on to say that it wasn’t a tough thing to do at all, even though it implies a couple of extra steps in practice. Once again, if it pleases Tom Terrific and leads them to a ring, what’s not to like about that?

“I just wasn’t sure what it would be like at first but, it’s a pretty easy transition. And now it’s just a couple extra things during practice I got to do, change out the towel, add a little bit more powder. It’s really not a burden at all for me,” Jensen concluded.

The Buccaneers enter the season as one of the biggest dark horses in the league. They have an explosive receiving corpse on Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, and Scotty Miller; plus O.J Howard, and Rob Gronkowski as TEs. That’s why Jensen would do anything to make Tom Brady’s job even easier.