National Football League

Bucs activate Pro Bowl center Ryan Jensen for Cowboys game

Updated Jan. 16, 2023 10:51 a.m. ET

TAMPA, Fla. — Monday morning brought perhaps the biggest injury news in a promising week of returns for the Bucs: Pro Bowl center Ryan Jensen, out with a left knee injury since July, has been activated off injured reserve and will make his season debut for Tampa Bay in Monday's wild-card game against the Cowboys.

The Bucs expect to be as healthy as they've been all season, a week after resting nine players dealing with injury or illness with the hopes of having them when it counted.

One lingering concern for Tampa Bay on the injury front has been on the interior offensive line, where the top four options were all limited by injury in some form this past week in practice. And for Tom Brady, potentially playing in the final game in a 23-year NFL career, the position is vitally connected to his comfort level during any game.

"Very," Brady said Friday when asked about the importance of the position for him. "It's a very important position. There's a part of that that is very nice to know exactly what you're dealing with. Sometimes it's new and you've just got to deal [with it]. Every position deals with it. I think quarterback-center is naturally unique. ... You've got to have a lot of people come through when guys get banged up and injured and knocked out. Hopefully we'll see whoever's ready to go out there and who can go out there and play well."

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The Bucs lost Jensen in the second practice of training camp, and it cast a pall over a promising season, taking away the offensive line's tone-setter, a veteran leader who has always been the first to protect his quarterback, during and after a play. They won a Super Bowl with Jensen at center in the 2020 season, and he earned his first Pro Bowl nod last season.

When Brady came out of a brief retirement this spring, the Bucs' next action was to bring back Jensen on a three-year, $39 million deal with two years guaranteed. So when Brady saw Jensen go down in practice, when he immediately realized the severity of the injury and its impact on the season, the quarterback went down on one knee for a moment.

The Bucs haven't shared the specifics of Jensen's injury, but they made a careful point not to place him on injured reserve until the day after final cuts were made, carrying him on their initial roster to leave open the possibility of him returning at some point, late in the season. For five months, the answer was that there was only a small chance that Jensen could return at all, and even then, it might be deep in the playoffs.

But three weeks ago, the Bucs designated Jensen to return from injured reserve, opening a 21-day window that would allow him to practice with the team, testing his knee each day as he progressed toward a potential return. Now he's back on the roster, and the Bucs truly need him.

Robert Hainsey, a third-round pick in 2021 from Notre Dame, took over for Jensen and has handled the starting job well, playing every offensive snap all season. But Hainsey tweaked his hamstring early in last week's regular-season finale at Atlanta, a game in which the Bucs did not play either starting offensive tackle to give them the best chance of being healthy for the playoffs.

Hainsey was replaced in the game by starting left guard Nick Leverett, another first-year starter who didn't miss a snap in the final 10 games after taking over at left guard for rookie Luke Goedeke, who had struggled in the first two months of the season. Leverett played every snap against the Falcons, but he hobbled off the field with knee and shoulder injuries, barely practiced this week and is listed as "doubtful" to play against the Cowboys. Even the fourth option, John Molchon, who made his NFL debut at guard against the Falcons last week, was limited by an ankle injury this week and is listed as questionable.

Tampa Bay is suddenly healthy all over the field — tackles Donovan Smith and Tristan Wirfs will both play, helping the Bucs better handle a pass-rush talent like Dallas' Micah Parsons. Defensive tackles Vita Vea and Akiem Hicks are both healthy, and the Bucs are 6-1 this season when both play at least 10 snaps, compared to 2-8 when either one fails to do so. In the secondary, they'll have their top three corners and top three safeties all healthy and playing for the first time since Week 4.

The lingering question remained at center and left guard, a limiting factor in the Bucs' offensive success all season. Tampa Bay has had the league's worst run game in the league, and while the team hasn't given up many sacks, that's more a function of Brady adjusting his internal clock and getting rid of the ball extremely quickly with an eye on self-preservation. For the 45-year-old quarterback, that's proven smart, as three playoff teams this weekend had their No. 3 QB on the field, two of them eliminated that way. The Bucs haven't had the same downfield passing threat that was a central part of their averaging 30 points a game in the previous two seasons, but their quarterback survived to make it to the playoffs for a 14th consecutive season.

For Bucs fans, that possibility has been a motivating source of optimism and confidence for five months — just get in the playoffs, keep winning, and perhaps Tom Brady gets his Pro Bowl center back. It has the same feeling as in 2020, when Vea was lost to a fractured lower leg in October and was gone for three months before returning in the NFC Championship Game, helping the Bucs to their second-ever championship.

"They're all sore — we'll see," Bowles said of his uncertain centers and guards Saturday morning. "They've got two-and-a-half more days to go. We'll give it time. We've got to make the decision probably [on] the day of the game. ... It's still too early. We'll make those decisions as we go, probably on Monday."

When Vea came back two years ago, he had been gone for 108 days. For Jensen, Monday's game falls 172 days after his injury, nearly a half-year of patient recovery and rehabilitation with the goal of helping his team this season. Now, he will get to do that in a home playoff game, with everything on the line.

Greg Auman is FOX Sports’ NFC South reporter, covering the Buccaneers, Falcons, Panthers and Saints. He is in his 10th season covering the Bucs and the NFL full-time, having spent time at the Tampa Bay Times and The Athletic. You can follow him on Twitter at @gregauman.

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