The last year and a half have led to this moment for Bucs center Robert Hainsey.

The 2021 third-round pick out of Notre Dame spent his rookie season handling a learning curve. Transitioning from tackle to center at the NFL level doesn’t happen over night. And as new as it was to be a backup for the first time, he said after Friday’s practice that it prepared him well.

“There’s things you can and cannot control. [Being a backup] was one thing that I couldn’t control,” Hainsey said. “All I could control was how I came out every day, prepared to improve and get better and help the team. I thought I did everything I could to do that. With the way things were last year, I don’t think I’d really change anything. I think it led me to where I am now: prepared, ready, comfortable and in a good spot.”

It’s a good thing that Hainsey feels prepared and ready, as he’s the favorite to replace injured Pro Bowl center Ryan Jensen. Jensen suffered a knee injury during Thursday’s practice, and Bucs head coach Todd Bowles said Friday they know he’ll miss significant time.

Bowles said Hainsey and Nick Leverett will compete for the vacated center spot.

“Both of them have played it,” he said Friday. “It’ll be a tough battle going in. Both are very smart, both are very tough. So, [it’s] better [for the injury] to happen now than the middle of the season so these guys can get some practice reps and prepare for it. I think either one of them will be fine.”

Replacing A Pro Bowl Center

Bucs C Ryan Jensen – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Losing a player — and a presence — like Jensen is a blow for Tampa Bay. But if the Bucs are going to reach the heights they appear destined for in 2022, they’ll need someone to step up. Whether it’s Hainsey or Leverett who wins that starting center job, they’ll be viewed as Jensen’s replacement. But both players know they can’t look at it like that.

“I’m not Ryan Jensen and that’s not who I’m trying to be,” Hainsey said Friday. “I have to be myself. But that chip on his shoulder that he plays with, if I’m out there, I think I want to have a little bit of that myself because I owe that to him. And whoever’s out there owes that to him, to continue that presence of the type of man and the type of player he is on the field.”

Leverett said Friday that it’s always hard to see a teammate go down, and that it’s even harder to see when it’s someone like Jensen.

“He’s my role model. He’s a great leader, and he’s a guy that I truly look up to,” Leverett said.

While Jensen’s nasty playing style will be missing from the field for a while, his presence in the locker room and on the sideline can still be critical for an offensive line full of young faces.

“I want to be there for him in everything. I know he’s going to be there for me and I know he’s gonna help me, Nick and everyone else,” Hainsey said. “He’s going to bring us along because whoever is in there, there can’t be any drop-off. That’s a top-one, top-two center in the NFL, so big shoes to fill. But [it’s] an opportunity nonetheless to where someone has to step up and do that.”

How A Former Buc Got Hainsey More Prepared Than Ever

It wasn’t just his role as an understudy in 2021 that has Hainsey feeling more comfortable and confident in himself as a center. He spent this offseason with eight-year NFL veteran A.Q. Shipley, who most recently played in 2020 with the Bucs before working on the team’s coaching staff. After working with Shipley so much during the regular season last year, Hainsey said he jumped at the chance to work with him more in the offseason.

Bucs Cs Robert Hainsey and Ryan Jensen and LG Shaq Mason – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

“Working with A.Q., spending my time out there with him, him and I focused a ton on everything that I would need to be ready for whatever the opportunity may be,” Hainsey said. “So, I’m very comfortable and prepared and ready.”

Hainsey went to Arizona to work out with Shipley before OTAs and mini-camp, then returned out west again between mini-camp and the start of training camp. The two worked out at Shipley’s gym, as well as local high school fields and parks. With the two spending so much time together, Shipley even had Hainsey over for dinner with his family. The second-year center came away from the experience bigger, stronger and more prepared for the new season.

“The work was outstanding. He’s incredibly knowledgeable about football. He’s incredibly knowledgeable about strength and conditioning, which a lot of people probably don’t know,” Hainsey said. “He had a plan every single day for me. Every day we’d come in, there was something new he wanted to work on, a weakness of mine he wanted to correct. So, that’s kind of the type of guy he is. He does everything 100%. It was an outstanding experience for me to be out there with him.”

Mentally and physically, Hainsey appears ready to rise to the occasion. He’s even worked on towel placement and keeping himself dry, as Tom Brady likes his centers to do. Shipley was among those who taught him the ways of placing and changing the towel in his pants, something he’s plenty happy to do for his quarterback.

“It’s the most important thing to do on a day-to-day basis. You guys see me out there. How often am I changing that thing, six times?” Hainsey said. “So, yeah I have to do it and it is what it is. It’s whatever [Tom] wants, so you make it happen.”