Friday marked one year since Bucs Pro Bowl center Ryan Jensen suffered a knee injury that would cost him the entirety of the 2022 regular season.

It was just the second day of training camp, but it was also the last time Jensen would suit up to play football until January, when he miraculously made it back for Tampa Bay’s season-ending loss to Dallas in the NFC Wild Card Round.

Jensen’s recovery process throughout last season was kept pretty quiet, and it wasn’t until after the loss to the Cowboys in January that he revealed what his injury actually was.

It was at then, too, that he confirmed that he opted not to have surgery. Instead, he let the injury heal on its own.

Bucs C Ryan Jensen and LG Luke Goedeke – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

“It was a pretty severe injury, ” Jensen said at the time. “Which a lot of people I know were confused why I didn’t have surgery. I ended up tearing my MCL, my ACL, my PCL, I flipped my meniscus, I had a fracture and I had another little bone chip thing. It was a major injury.

“I was as fortunate as I could be with the way injury happened where I didn’t have to have surgery and it was able to heal on it’s own. Yeah, five months and trying to come back off of that, it was – some call it dumb, but I’m a football player and football players play football.”

Six months after making his return to the field, Jensen – with the help of the Bucs’ training staff – is executing a plan throughout training camp to keep his knee feeling “really good,” as it is right now. That plan includes some days off from practice, as was the case on Thursday, as well as easing back into full team drills.

Ryan Jensen Reflects On His Road Back To Football

Bucs center Ryan Jensen Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

On Friday, Ryan Jensen further explained his decision not to have surgery on his knee and let it heal naturally. 

“There were a lot of decisions I had to make,” Jensen said. “It’s actually kind of funny [and] ironic today that it’s actually a year from today that I got hurt and all that. It was a journey, that’s for sure. Right after, you went to go get all the imaging done, all this and that and you start sending [that] out to different doctors.

“Like I had mentioned before, I had five separate opinions and I ended up going with Dr. Shelbourne, who thought that it was gonna be better for me not to have an operation done. And [I] went that route, so feeling good, ligaments are healthy and healed and I’m just ready to keep rolling.”

With any major injury, making a comeback has its challenges – both physical and mental. And one year after his injury and six months after beating the return timetable by playing in the Bucs’ playoff game against the Cowboys, Jensen has the ability to reflect on the journey back to the field.

“From a physical standpoint, it just is what it is,” Jensen said. “I think there’s a lot I learned about myself over the last year going through this injury. Frankly, my entire career I had a very healthy, easy path from a physical standpoint of not really being injured ever to all of a sudden, you’re on top of the world and you get brought back down.

“It was a mental battle. There was days I just broke down and frankly, just sobbed. It just is what it is, it’s a healthy thing and it was tough. It was a tough year. But now, I think it’s grown me as a person, as a man, to be a better dad, to be a better husband and stuff like that. It’s definitely been an adventure.”

Bucs QB Tom Brady and C Ryan Jensen – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

The adventure brought Ryan Jensen back right into the thick of the Bucs’ season, as the team was trying to make up for a frustrating 8-9 regular season with some playoff success. Tampa Bay ultimately lost to Dallas in the first round, but making it back for that game at Raymond James Stadium was special for the fierce and feisty heart of the Bucs’ offensive line.

“It meant everything. It was a crazy road,” Jensen said. “Looking back, I probably shouldn’t have played, but at the same time, it was one of those ones where I wanted to go out there and help the team and be out there with my guys. It was an honor to be able to be back out on the field and obviously, with Tom [Brady]’s last game, it was an honor to play with him and suit up one more time with him.

“It was different for me. It brought it back to my first time I ever ran out of a tunnel. You take that for granted at times, and for me, running out there for a playoff game, it re-energized me. It brought me back to that 21-year-old kid that got drafted and really just reignited that fire and that passion that I never really lost, but it just kind of reminded me of how fast it can be over.”

Ryan Jensen’s Injury Brought Him Tough Moments, But Also Clarity

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

As impressive and relieving as his comeback and overall journey have been, there’s no getting around the fact that at this time last year, Ryan Jensen was having to deal with some very tough moments. Asked on Friday about how his injury made him a better dad, the 32-year-old was very vulnerable about the experiences he had.

“It was hard,” Jensen said through tears. “When I came home after that day, having to explain that to him. Like, ‘Hey, Dad got hurt today. I’m not gonna be able to play football this year.’ And then, 10 minutes later, he’s like ‘Hey, can we go play?’ And I’m like, I’m in a cast, I can’t walk, I can’t do this. So it was hard to walk through that and see him broken-hearted for me. It just put a different perspective on stuff.

“It was tough. It just helped me see things in a different perspective and not take advantage of stuff. In that moment, it was clarity on what’s truly important. Football is important, but family is everything.”

Those moments might have been tough for Jensen back in July of 2022. But now, in July of 2023, he’s back on the field with the Bucs at the AdventHealth Training Center. With his 5-year-old son, Wyatt, in attendance on Friday, Jensen said that after everything he went through, he feels re-energized.

“Having something taken away from you in the sense that, it’s football, people get hurt, that’s the way things roll,” Jensen said. “But being a guy who had been healthy my whole career, you can take that for granted at times. And when you do get hurt, it re-energizes you or it can crush you. For me, it just re-energized me.”