In a week where the Bucs have a rare opportunity to rest their starters for the playoffs, the question about Ryan Jensen’s availability has come up again.

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

Jensen has been out since the second day of training camp when he injured his knee. He returned to practice last week as the Bucs initiated the 21-day window to activate him to the 53-man roster. Jensen had been injured reserve the whole season.

Because the Bucs clinched the NFC South with a game to go and are unable to move up in the seedings, they don’t really have much to play for in Week 18 against the Falcons. However, head coach Todd Bowles let it be known on Monday that the plan at the moment is to play the starters and that you can’t worry about getting hurt just because it’s the last week of the season.

Bowles Answers If Jensen Will Play This Week

Jensen looked to be moving around okay in his return to practice. Bowles didn’t seem to eager to talk about him much.

“Not right now,” Bowles said about an update to Jensen’s status. “He’s just working every day. No update on him.”

Does that mean he won’t play at all in the final the week? The Bucs have two more weeks to decide on their veteran center. As important as he is on the roster, it’s tough to insert a player on the offensive line, let alone center, for the playoffs after they didn’t play all season. It’s potentially your last game and that’s a big risk to take.

Bucs HC Todd Bowles – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

What would help is getting him reps in the final week of the season when there won’t be a chance to hurt your positioning in the postseason.

“Not at this time,” Bowles said of getting Jensen in the game. “We’ll see how the week goes.”

It sounds like Bowles doesn’t plan on it, but things could change as we get further into the week. Another factor that must be looked into is what you do with Robert Hainsey. The second-year player has been solid all season and it would be tough to take him out of the lineup.

At the same time, the Bucs most likely wouldn’t moving him to left guard in front of Nick Leverett and there’s no way he’s playing right guard. He just becomes a really good depth piece in the event the Bucs do start Jensen eventually, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.

The topic of Jensen’s availability will be a discussion that won’t stop until we see him play for the Bucs again. It’s just an option of if it will be at the end of this season or the beginning of the next one.