Ryan Jensen has a fan.
Joe has to admit to still being a little depressed.
It’s been five days since Bucs center Ryan Jensen retired. His knee was destroyed. He couldn’t get back on the field (though he tried last summer).
Jensen meant so much to the Bucs organization and fans loved his work ethic and gnarly attitude on the field.
It seems Jensen’s play and ‘tude rubbed off on other players. At the Pro Bowl this past weekend, Collin Haalboom of SI.com ran into Eagles Pro Bowl center Jason Kelce and asked him about Jensen. Video style!
Kelce was a big fan of Jensen not just because of how well he played but how he carried himself as a pro.
“In his tenure in the NFL he was one of the best centers in the league,” Kelce said. “Not only was he imposing physically but he was an imposing personality. He was a very tough, physical guy.”
Kelce said there was no doubt Jensen was a leader.
“He was a guy that set the tone for whatever team he played for whether it was Baltimore or Tampa Bay,” Kelce said. “He had an incredible career. He had some injuries [late in his career] but he was one of my favorite players of all.
“[Jensen] was going to bring it day in and day out. Every game, you loved watching Ryan Jensen play. He can look back [on his career] with a lot of pride.”
The way Kelce spoke, it was as if NFL centers as a whole looked up to Jensen.
“I think I speak for a lot of guys in the NFL that he played the game the way you’d want every offensive lineman to play.”
That’s high praise from arguably the best center in the game.
Yeah, Joe knows the Bucs played virtually all of 2022 without Jensen and all of 2023. Still, you can feel his absence. The Bucs miss him and his leadership.
And yes, Joe still thinks the Bucs are still searching for the intangibles Jensen brought to the table.
News
At my wedding, my grandfather handed me an old passbook. My father quickly took it and said, “That bank shut down in the ’80s—he’s just confused.”
Part 2 “Mr. Mercer?” he said again, his voice carrying the weight of bad news and good news tangled together so tightly they were impossible to separate….
Part 2 + 3: I kept $20M in my mom’s safe. Next morning she was gone with it—and I laughed because of what was inside
Part 2 Because the black bag they raced out of that house with only had… Twenty million dollars in perfectly printed counterfeit bills. I had swapped the…
Part 2 + 3: My daughter married a Korean man when she was 21. She hasn’t been home for twelve years, but every year, she sends $100,000.
Part 2 And then, someone called out in a voice I would know anywhere. “Mom…?” The single word hit me like a physical blow. My heart slammed…
My sister switched my baby powder with flour as a joke during a family visit. Thirty seconds after I used it, my six-month-old baby stopped breathing. I rushed her to the hospital…
Part 2 “It looks like someone deliberately exposed her,” Dr. Morrison finished. The words landed like broken glass in an open wound. I stared at her, the…
Part 2: I am 65 years old. I got divorced 5 years ago. My ex-husband left me a bank card with 3,000 dollars. I never touched it. Five years later, when I went to withdraw that money…
Part 2 The manager’s heels clicked across the polished tile like a countdown. She was in her early sixties, silver hair pulled into a neat bun, navy…
Part 2: At my wedding, my grandfather handed me an old passbook. My father quickly took it and said, “That bank shut down in the ’80s—he’s just confused.”
Mr. Mercer?” the second executive repeated, his voice low and measured, like a man delivering news that could tilt the rest of a life. His name tag…
End of content
No more pages to load
