The yell heard ’round Tampa Bay. Yesterday, Ryan Jensen went down with an apparently serious knee injury and Bucs fans everywhere collectively gasped (literally there is a video of it happening and all of the fans in attendance gasping in unison). And with that, the minds of Bucs-world started racing.

“Who is available?  Get JC Tretter on the phone? How about Matt Paradis? Billy Price? Will Bill Belichick send us the Patriots starting center Dave Andrews for a bag of magic beans?”

Most teams will consider internal options before looking externally when trying to fill voids on their roster. The Bucs have done that all offseason long. When considering depth at defensive tackle, the team waited until July to sign Akiem Hicks. When considering depth at wide receiver, the team saw what they had at OTAs before signing Julio Jones on the first day of training camp. The Bucs will most likely do that with Robert Hainsey at center before making a reactionary move to sign a veteran.

So, what do the Bucs have with Hainsey? Admittedly, there isn’t a ton of NFL film on him. He played just 31 snaps in the regular season last year. He did grade out well in that limited action, showing well as a pass protector and decent as a run blocker. With that said let’s take a look at as much tape as we can on the new center of attention in Bucs-land.

Robert Hainsey

Here are a couple of clips of Hainsey from last year. Let’s start with this one against the Giants.

Hainsey gets a bit of help from Alex Cappa, but overall, he keeps his anchor and walls off Dexter Lawrence. Multiple offensive linemen lost on this play, but Hainsey was not one of them.

Now here’s another one against Miami.

Hainsey is successful in firing off the line, gaining leverage and tilting his body to wall off his defender. Then Hainsey climbs to try and get to a second defender. Watch the initial get-off. One thing you can absolutely say about Hainsey is he is fast off the line. That should pair well with new right guard Shaq Mason who is notorious for his ability to jump off the line with speed and authority. Imagine these two on a combo block against a nose tackle or 1-technique.

Now here’s a clip @realbucstalk posted on twitter yesterday.

Watch as Hainsey uses his quickness to get across the right side of the line to help right tackle Tristan Wirfs slow down Derrick Brown as the play develops behind the line of scrimmage. Hainsey then shows good feel for when to disengage and climb to the second level. At that point he gets moving to help lead Scotty Miller to the end zone. That’s free safety Kenny Robinson Hainsey is able to body up in the open field. It takes a ton of agility and athleticism for an offensive lineman to cover up a defensive back in the open like that.

Lastly, here is some film from Hainsey’s work at the Senior Bowl leading up to the 2021 NFL Draft. I found a great cut up by Scott Kennedy on YouTube featuring Hainsey. I’ll try to breakdown each rep a little. This was the first time Hainsey did any work at center, so please disregard the poor snaps. That is something he has worked on for the past year and a half and should be much cleaner now.

Rep 1 0:00-0:15

Hainsey gets a good latch with his hands and uses that plus a solid leg drive to just move his man backwards on a good drive block.

Rep 2 0:16-0:25

Combo block where Hainsey uses his hands well and pushes his man 10 yards back. From a mentality standpoint you love to see how him and the guard push through the end of the rep.

Rep 3 0:26-0:32

First rep we see in a pass-pro setting. Defensive tackle jumps off the line and gets a split on the guard. Hainsey shows a great recovery to get back into the rep. He was able to use a solid punch with his right hand to help slow the defender’s progress and quick feet to help aide his recovery as he twists his hips to get back in it.

Rep 4 0:36-0:42

Great punch and grip. He keeps his arms extended to ensure the defender stays at bay. And then when the defender tries to counter to Hainsey’s left, he uses his grip to snatch and drop him to the ground.

Rep 5 0:44-0:50

Uses a quick jump to engage the defender up field of the line-of-scrimmage. He starts to lose the rep though as the defender gets leverage and drives Hainsey upright and eventually is able to snatch him to the ground. This is probably Hainsey’s worst rep of the clip. Even so he loses a couple of seconds in and without giving ground.

Rep 6 0:51-0:56

Notre Dame OL Robert Hainsey – Photo courtesy of Notre Dame

This is great example of plus hand fighting. He gets a good initial punch with both hands, but as the defender swats them away. So Hainsey again lands a powerful double-hand punch and this time locks in, anchors down with his lower half and slows the defender’s progress. One note here. You can see that his lower half seems a bit thin. This is part of the body transformation Hainsey has been working on since being drafted. As a tackle at Notre Dame a leaner lower half was okay for playing a position that required more agility. Playing inside requires a thicker build, and from what I have heard behind the scenes the Bucs have been thrilled with what Hainsey has put in work-wise on getting his build right.

Rep 7 1:00-1:08

Uses his left hand to get a feel for the left guard’s block on the tackle. Given that the guard has to come across laterally, Hainsey is making sure the defensive tackle doesn’t shoot the gap before the guard can get into place. This shows his intelligence and feel for the position, even as it was his first time playing it at an elite level. Once Hainsey feels comfortable the block is executed he moves to the second level and finds the linebacker. He shows a good latch with his hands and controls the defender, preventing him from stacking and shedding the block.

Rep 8 1:08-1:18

Here Hainsey is playing left guard. The tackle tries to execute a swim move and puts it on pretty quick. But Hainsey is able to get a strong punch that pushes the defender backwards, thus nullifying the move. Now with space between them, the pass rusher attempts to get up the arc with speed. Hainsey does a good job of showing quick feet, recovering and getting a final push to knock the defender too far up the arc to affect the play.

Rep 9 1:22-1:30

Good initial combo block, but here you would like to see a bit more awareness to find the linebacker waiting in the a-gap and try to put a hat on him. This is one where Hainsey leaves a little to be desired.

Rep 10 1:34-1:41

Love the quickness and tenacity throughout the rep. But two obvious penalties. First the false start and then the hold at the end as he and the linebacker twirl each other in a dos-y-doe.

Rep 11 1:46-1:58

Fires off the line, finds the linebacker, squares him up and keeps the block long enough for the back to get by.

Final Thoughts

There’s a reason the Bucs took Hainsey in the third round. He has the quickness, hands, motor, and strength to be successful on a top tier offensive line. From what his teammates and others around the organization have said, he has put in the work to set himself up to be successful. He was legitimately in the running to start this year anyway at left guard. Now he just has the opportunity at the position he’s been preparing for more since entering the league.

Give him a chance Bucs fans. It seems the team is comfortable with him. Why not you?