Does Jensen have a chance to play in week 18?

In a week where the Bucs have a rare opportunity to rest their starters for the playoffs, the question of Ryan Jensen’s availability is back on the agenda.

Jensen has been out since the second day of training camp when he injured his knee. Last week, he returned to training as the Bucs entered the 21-day window to activate him for the 53-man roster. Jensen had been injured on reserve all season.

With the Bucs capturing the NFC South with one game left and unable to move up the seeding list, they don’t really have much to play for in Week 18 against the Falcons. However, head coach Todd Bowles announced this on Monday the plan at the moment is to play the starters and not worry about getting injured just because it’s the last week of the season.

Bowles answers if Jensen will play this week

Jensen seemed to be moving well in his return to training. Bowles didn’t seem eager to talk much about him.

“Not now,” Bowles said of an update on Jensen’s status. ‘He just works every day. No update on him.”

Does that mean he won’t be playing in the final at all this week? The Bucs have two weeks to decide on their veteran center. As important as he is on the roster, it’s hard to put a player on the offensive line, let alone center, for the playoffs after they haven’t played all season. It may be your last game and that’s a big risk.

What would help is to give him replays in the last week of the season when there is no chance of hurting your positioning. in the postseason.

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

It sounds like Bowles isn’t planning on it, but things could change as we get further into the week. Another factor to look at is what you do with Robert Hainsey. The sophomore player has been solid all season and it would be hard to pull him out of the lineup.

At the same time, the Bucs most likely wouldn’t move him to left guard for Nick Leverett and there’s no way he’s playing right guard. He’s just going to be a really good low in case the Bucs Jensen eventually start, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.

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 a choice whether it will be at the end of this season or the beginning of the next.