Geoff Schwartz Is Smarter Than You - Ryan Jensen is Tom Brady's Closest Teammate

Episode Date: June 26, 2020

Ryan Jensen of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers joins the show to discuss the exact moment he found out Tom Brady would be his counterpart under center, his journey as a sixth-round draft pick and how possible a social-distanced training camp really is. Shortened Preseason: 0:50 Fans in seats: (7:14) Ryan Jansen (10:48) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

it's Friday June 26 and this is Jeff Schwartz is smarter than you with me Jeff Schwartz solo end of the week podcast hope you guys had a fantastic week we had a lot of cover today it's gonna be a great show got some NFL news are we playing in the preseason the regular season what do I think about moves that are being made to get there? And we also have Tampa Bay Buccaneers center, Ryan Jensen, who is the new center for Tom Brady as Tom Brady is now in town. We talk about that transition, meaning Tom, what he's learned from Tom so far. What has Tom like his centers to wipe their butt sweat up?

We talk about offensive line play where he came from all those things. Great things. Great interview. 35 minutes long. But like I mentioned, let's start with some ins and outs about the preseason and things that the NFL has announced that is going to take place. Number one,

the hall of fame game has been canceled on August 6th between the Steelers and the Cowboys. This makes a ton of sense. It's no surprise this was going to happen. They're trying to contain as much as possible the environment for the NFL players as they get towards or really into training camp and also in the preseason. This is a situation where you're going to camp early July 22nd,

and I played the Hall of Fame game. It's not a lot of fun I understand you're there to honor the past greats they're now in the Hall of Fame and and also really just the entire history of the NFL but for players you go to camp early you have an extra week at camp or so you have an extra game it's just it's not very fun players don't like doing I've done it once I went to camp like July 18th. This is July 22nd. So Steelers, Cowboys not doing that. It's just too tough to control the environment in Ohio.

But that leads team to believe that the first two preseason games, and Ryan will talk about this in a few minutes, probably not going to happen. There needs to be an appropriate ramp up period to get ready to play properly in the preseason. And even though guys are working out on their own and they are defying NFL PA, I mean, Tom Brady keeps posting every day almost about how they're working out without the PA's blessing. And again, you really can't control the players from working out. It's their time of the

year. Their body knows they have four weeks till training camp. They have to start getting themselves into that shape to get ready to play. They're going to keep working out. But as much as you can work out on your own in groups at a facility, there's nothing quite like practice reps, game reps. Something where you actually are doing your position, your job, as close to full speed as possible. I know you can run a route full speed on air with Tom Brady,

but it's still going to be a little bit different when Mike Evans lines up against a Tampa Bay defensive back and then go out and practice. So I understand the idea for a ramp-up period. What's interesting, though, too, is that in the lockout year of 2011, we didn't have a ramp-up period. We got to camp and played right away. Again, there's a slight difference in the lockout year 2011 we didn't have a ramp-up period we got to camp and played right away again there's a slight difference in the fact that you have not been able to work out with guys mostly to the last month or so as you've been working on your own but we didn't

need a ramp-up period then and so I'm curious about the need for it physically now I mean I get it but I'm not quite sure that's why they're doing it. I think they're doing it because they need to figure out how they're going to handle guys testing positive, the social distancing guidelines in the facility, and more logistical things of kind of starting training camp. And this ramp-up period is not just for the physical part of it, the mental part. It's for figuring out how they're going to do everything and for the players to understand this is probably not going to be a normal training camp.

In fact, I can guarantee you it won't be a normal training camp. So the ramp-up period, I think, is less physical and more just mentally getting a hold of what's happening. It's hard to start day one in the same level of intensity you started day one last year. People ask, hey, how many games does someone need to get ready? And I say two, a starter, two, two games. You

basically play two games now. You play game two and game three, maybe even just game three. What about competition, Jeff? What about competition for younger guys? And certainly the lack of training camp practices that are going to be full speed, the lack of pads now in training camp, and lack of preseason games will all hurt younger players. It will all hurt them. It will hurt late round draft picks like me. It will hurt undrafted free agent picks. In training camp, your job is to get the team ready to play, right?

If you have a longer training camp and a more usual training camp, then you can let the threes who might not play this year. There was a surprise here and there. The third group, I should say, not the threes, the third group. So, you know, late round drafts, undrafted guys, you know,

street free agents, things like that. They can get more reps to start a practice in training camp because you have a long period before you play. And those reps are used to figure out, obviously, who can rise to the second team and who's the third team guy who's eventually going to get cut.

Those reps aren't going to be there, in my opinion, at the same level they've been in other years. The job now is not so much getting everyone ready, but just getting the starters ready. And you're not trying to find a diamond in the rough. You don't have time to find a diamond in the rough. You have time to get your guys ready to play because you have the ramp-up period. You'll be practicing as hard, I imagine.

So I think the starters, the ones and twos will get more reps. It's going to hurt that backing out of the roster. Now, how it relates specifically to preseason games, I've been in the opinion, it's been backed up, I've talked to NFL personnel about this, that you have a 53-man roster. It might be 55 now, new CB. I got to check that. I keep saying that. I got to check that out for real. Let's say it's 53 still. 47 of the 53 spots are already spoken for before training camp starts. They're spoken for via contract, draft slot, and need of your team. So those last spots are fought for typically on special teams.

And those are where the game reps are important. So if there's a weight on like practice versus how you perform, I would say like a game is almost like five, seven, eight times more important than how you practice. There's a lot of guys that practice what can't play in games. A lot of guys that don't practice very well and play. I was much better at playing games that how you practice. There's a lot of guys that practice but can't play in games. A lot of guys that don't practice very well and play, I was much better at playing games than I was at practice.

There's a calming effect, in my opinion, at least for me, of playing a game. I saw things more clearly. I kind of was able to turn it on. I wasn't able to quite feel the same way in a practice. So only having two games will hurt the evaluation of the back end guys and again it's like 10 guys for six spots it's not 30 guys for six it's not 30 guys for 30 spots

it's 10 guys for six spots and those special teams reps are so much more valuable in the game when you're going against someone else in practice it's good to do obviously but that is a concern of mine for the back end roster guys is going to two games veterans will love it absolutely 100 so i think we'll i think we're knock off at least one week of the preseason maybe two we'll keep you updated as we go along nfl owners uh have approved a proposal to cover the seats closest to the field and then place sponsorship logos over those seat coverings the nfl stays making money, folks. They're trying to find ways to continue to make revenue.

It's very clear the NFL is going to limit the fans around the players. So they said seven, eight rows. They're going to not allow fans. They're going to put signage around. They're just like we see in baseball when they cover the upper deck. They might put a logo on there of the team or maybe of a sponsor. Makes a lot of sense for the players and fans to stay away from each other. Another way for NFL to make money.

And just another sign that this is not going to be a normal season. I've long been of the opinion that each individual state will set its guidelines for fans. So you might see California with less and you might see Texas with more. How do you decide who goes to the game i think the best way to do this and there are some colleges i believe iowa state has stated we're just gonna let season ticket holders in and students and no one else so it feels like if you are a giants fan chiefs fan she's not psls giants cowboys wherever Panthers here in Charlotte. You have a PSL, you can go to the game.

You want to buy a ticket off the street? Can't do it. Now, if you want to buy someone else's season ticket, sure, go ahead. But they're not going to allow single game tickets to be sold. They're not going to allow there to be a large capacity in the stadium. I don't think. I mean, Ohio State, go back to college, Ohio State athletic director said they're going to get 40,000, 50,000 fans.

And I mean, it's possible. Again, at some point, we're going to have to turn from the government telling us, hey, man, wear a mask, restrictions in place, the individual responsibility to go to sporting events and continue life. I mean, look, I am as a pro-mask as there is. My wife is a nurse. She wears a mask the entire day and she wears a face shield.

She's not at the hospital, but at her clinics just to wear that. I am 100% on board with masks. I was 100% on board with a stricter lockdown at the start of this whole process. I thought if we did a better, an actual strict lockdown, which would be tough in America to do,

especially with the numbers we have and the individualism we have in our country. That would mitigate. So I'm fully on board with what we're doing now. But at some point, and maybe football is that point, sports are the point in general, basketball, baseball coming back, there has to be a talk about continuing life with the virus around us.

Getting back to football and how this relates, I think there could be a situation where, you know, same with football, you know, like I said, like individual choice to show up to a game or not. That to me feels like what we might get to at some point. Because otherwise you're waiting for a vaccine that might not come.

It might not arrive on time. Vaccines don't always work 100%. We know that with the flu, obviously. They work less than 50%, I think, with the flu. People won't take them. I think we could be moving there. I know there's some states that have to put back restrictions on, like North Carolina.

We can't go to phase three. But I've been thinking about when we get back to normal or attempt to get back to normal. Maybe football is the way to do it. Again, I told you guys Monday I'm rooting for football to be back because it feels like we have some normalcy again. So I'll keep you updated on the news and notes with the NFL, with COVID and whatnot.

All right, guys. On to Ryan Jensen, Tampa Bay Buccaneers Center. Great conversation. Hope you guys enjoy. Buccaneers Center. Great conversation. Hope you guys enjoy. All right, now welcome in Ryan Jensen, the center, offensive line, the center for Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Ryan, welcome in, buddy. Hey, thanks for having me. I appreciate it.

I'm glad you're here. There's a lot of things to get to, especially with the way we're preparing for football right now, quarantine life, stay at home, all of that. But everyone wants to know, Ryan, it's an important question. People have asked me this. People have asked you this. You're going to be asked this a lot. How sweaty is your ass? It's not bad. You know, down here in Florida, with the humidity,

it just naturally gets a little moist down there. But, you know, for me, I'm not a huge sweater. You know, it's kind of weird. I'll sweat for about the first 15 minutes of practice or a game or anything like that. And then it's probably not healthy, but I just like dry up and I just stopped sweating. So you're dehydrated. Yeah. It's probably not good, but you know, it's just my body adapts and overcomes. So for those who don't know Tom Brady, who's now Ryan's quarterback, his precious hands, the hands he throws with, the right hand, obviously, which is in the quarterback's butt, he's worried about that hand getting wet. So notoriously, he has told stories about how he goes to great lengths to teach the center, who is now Ryan, how to fold a towel and stick it in their crack to make sure the sweat doesn't get on his hand so there's a photo that came out about a month ago when you guys working out for the first time

of him literally showing you how to fold that towel were were you aware of this technique he was teaching you is it is it new can you handle this technique yeah it's it's it's easy you know once you get used to having kind of a rough towel and some baby powder down your crack, you know, it's not bad. But, you know, getting used to it, you know, it'll be a little different once we get, you know, in a game and wearing it. And I'm actually running around doing stuff. But, you know, it's almost like I'm wearing, you know, just a back diaper, you know. It's still strange, but, hey, it works. I'm just so fascinated by this story because it goes to show you the lengths of Tom Brady,

you know, just with the detail, right? Attention to detail. Everything matters to him and the way that his center wears his towel and the way that you have to operate. Every little detail matters to him. When you first met him, because now it's been a couple of months, what stood out to you the first time you saw him on the field in that workout yeah definitely it's just the length of detail he goes into with you know how he wants his guys to run routes and you know just little things you know for me

it might just because he's getting a bit older you know he wants me to get my butt up a little bit my stance he doesn't have to bend over as far but you know just the the length of uh of detail that uh he goes in with you know when he wants his guys making the cut and having them you know stay relaxed and and it just these little minute details like stood out like right away um it's just it's it's amazing and you can see why you know he's such a great quarterback. I'm sure in his everyday life, too, he's so detailed about what he does, and it definitely shows in these little workouts that have been going on. Was it not weird, but maybe eye-opening to see the amount of detail that goes in? I'm not saying Jameis Winston wasn't detailed,

or the guys that you play with in Baltimore, Joe Flacco mostly, but just to see this, that extra little level. Because I've been bouncing around with quarterbacks and I got to Eli Manning and I saw just the way he picked up blitzes, the way he saw things on film, the way he did things. It was just different than anyone else.

And it's a little bit shocking, right, to see that there even is an extra level now. Jameis Winston before last season was, I think he's still a good quarterback in the NFL, but there's even another level with Tom Brady. Yeah, definitely. You know, just the way, you know, that detail and the way he operates, it's unreal.

And just, you know, what he brings, you know, leadership-wise, experience-wise, you knowwise is a huge thing. Even for offensive linemen, just talking with him about football and how he sees things and how he wants me to see things. It's different with every guy that he talks to. He talks to other guys how they're going to understand it. He speaks their language. There's a huge thing about always talking about, you know, football, you got to speak the same language.

But, you know, with Tom, he has the ability to, you know, talk to different guys and help them understand in a way that is going to be proficient for them. And it's just, it's little minute things like that, that are just, you know, it's awesome to see. So how much of your job will change on game day how much is going to change what you have to do you think with tom back there now yeah you know that that was a huge uh conversation that we had uh actually the first time we ever facetimed he's facetiming about two weeks after um he signed and did you have his

number or did just like show up like like a random boston area code yeah yeah well yeah it was just a random uh boston or yeah boston or massachusetts area code wait seriously so you answered a random facetime no i didn't actually so uh i got a text from uh one of the front office guys like hey uh tom's gonna try to call you here in about the next 10 minutes and i'm in colorado and it's like 9 30 at night i'm like uh cool all right whatever and uh so that was like one of the first things we talked about was uh you know how we can handle communication at the line of scrimmage because i've done it both ways where the center controls it you know quarterback controls it i'm like i'm kind of a control freak so i really like you know mike and everything and and all that and i we had the conversation where i'm like yeah you know i'm gonna come out and i'm gonna mike it how i see it

you know how we're we're taught to mike it and if you need to make adjustments you make adjustments then you know i'll get everybody on the same page it's uh you know there's a lot of give and take uh with the center and a quarterback you know, communication and being able to, you know, get to know him more and how he sees things, you know, just through conversation. You know, we're pretty much on the same page so far. I don't think people realize that there is so much goes into just pointing out who we're working to. Like in the run game, the quarterback really has no say, unless they're changing – it's all you. You come to the line of scrimmage, you name someone, and we work.

But in the pass game, the quarterback has to know the hot, the site, the adjustments for the wide receivers, and it's more of a mix. Was it something that you found out – I'm sure when you came to the NFL, you thought, oh, man, the center does everything. But when did you realize, like, hey, we kind of have to be a partnership here yeah definitely it's uh you're not really knowing what to uh you know coming in college i played tackle and i got dropped by baltimore okay we're gonna throw you in at center and i'm like i was completely lost and actually juan castillo who was my offensive line coach my first uh four years um

he had it where the the center actually did control everything even in the past game um so you know having that experience and and you know kind of being the the swing interior guy for a couple three four years before i got my opportunity to start was was huge because i could see how uh you know other guys would operate and communicate with the quarterback and how they would see things. And when I took over my fifth year, it was just night and day, you know. Every once in a while Joe would change something, but for the most part, we were, you know, on the same page on how we saw blitz

or how we saw, you know, protection. Yeah, that's really fascinating. So going back to when you found out Tom was going to be a buck, we had talked a little bit beforehand. You had alerted me about 24 hours beforehand, like, hey, man, I'm kind of hearing that he might be coming to Tampa. I was shocked. I told you, like, you're full of shit.

And then obviously he ended up coming. Was it something that you had heard that might happen even before 24 hours? I mean, it feels like Tampa, even the offshore markets, was fifth or sixth it didn't really feel like this is a place he might end up and all of a sudden now he's there yeah you know it's just you hear rumors and stuff like that you know how it is in a in a locker room and yeah um you know especially a guy like tom you know i i didn't believe it either you know i heard these rumors that you know hey it's, you know, possibility that he's coming down. I'm like, Oh yeah. You know, that's like,

maybe, I don't know, you know, something would have crazy would have to happen. And, uh, and then, you know, about 24 hours before it really started like picking up and, you know, that's kind of when we were, we were chit chatting a little bit. And, uh, I'm like, I just, I still don't believe it. Like I won't believe it until he signs on the dotted line. And then when that happened, I'm like, Holy shit.'m like, I still don't believe it. Like, I won't believe it until he signs on the dotted line. And then when that happened, I'm like, holy shit. Like, here's what I thought was going to happen.

I thought Tom was going to, you know, kind of go on this free agent little tour or whatever. And then, you know, go back home, you know, go back to New England. And, you know, then when, you know, the reports came out that he was actually signing. I was like, holy cow, like this is, you know, organizational like changing moment for, you know, the Bucs. So it was just kind of surreal. Like I didn't really believe it. There's a lot of talk about the fit between him and Bruce Arians. Now, I imagine Bruce Arians is intense from the time he's there

to the time he leaves. But he is famous for saying, hey, man, it's 7 o'clock. We're out of here, right? Like, we're going home. Go home. Tom Brady notoriously is up all night texting coaches. How is that relationship going to work out when you have Tom Brady, who is kind of an all-dater,

and Bruce Arians is going home a little bit earlier than most? Yeah, it's not a bad thing. I think coaches waste way too much time in the facility doing stupid stuff, doing CYA instead of just going home. I'm actually on board with Bruce doing that, but that relationship kind of strikes me as kind of opposite. So I'm kind of curious how you think that'll work out. I think it'll be great. You know, you know, Tom,

he gets his work done and then, you know, he's, he's notorious for, you know, bugging coaches at late hours, like you're saying, but, you know tom he gets his work done and then you know he's he's notorious for you know bugging coaches at you know late hours like you're saying but you know i think uh you know the thing with bruce is that he's such a football guy you know he's a family guy and a football guy so i don't think there'll be a a huge issue with you know tom randomly texting him at nine o'clock at night or whatever but uh you know that's just tom is such a perfectionist with um everything you know just like looking at these workouts and being around these workouts and you know he throws a ball and i'm like oh that was a great pass and then he goes no hey spot that up and he throws five more because he didn't he didn't like you know the velocity or he didn't

like the exact placement or i'm like i look like a pretty good pass to me. But, you know, it's just – it's a little, you know, perfectionist type personality. And, you know, Bruce is, you know, big on attention to detail. So I think it'll work good. The workouts that the PA has forbid players from doing, we'll get back to that in just a second. Touch a little bit on last year. Obviously, as an offensive lineman, you had to learn how second touch a little bit on last year um obviously as an offense

alignment you had to learn how to tackle a little bit better but how frustrating is it to just you know like it i played on bad teams before and you guys weren't bad you were you were competitive in every game but i put quarterbacks through a ton of picks they also didn't throw 35 touchdowns like how how interesting like kind of mentally wrapping your head around the fact that Jameis might throw a pick six and the very next drive it's four or five plays touchdown. I mean, I can't imagine that, that up and down emotion.

Cause I, like I said, I've been on bad teams. We were just bad. Like we threw a pick six. We were three and out and we punt the ball. Like, it's not like we go up and down with it every game.

Was it, how was it to play in a year where you had so much turmoil just in the game itself? Yeah, you know, it's always frustrating, obviously, having, you know, picks and stuff like that. Then it's like, you know, it's kind of jokingly around with, you know, like our office line coach and just the guys in the room. It's like, oh, well, we'll just get this pick out of the way and then Jamison can go throw for 500 yards.

It's like just joking around. That's just what he did. For whatever reason, the last five to the last six games, he opened up the first drive with a pick and then ended up throwing for a huge amount of yards and four touchdowns. I don't know. It just didn't make sense.

But obviously, it's frustrating. And I tell this to everybody. It's like if Jameis was able to cut half those picks, not all of them were his fault, obviously. There's some shortcut routes and stuff like that. But we're not talking just about being a winning team but like potential of jamis if he throws 15 picks instead of 30 yeah you know he's he's in the running for mvp you know he probably would have thrown over 6 000 yards yeah and it's

just it's just crazy you know you cut out half that and you're in you know we're we're 12 and four probably and you know he's in the running for m. It's crazy how that happens. But, you know, it's definitely frustrating as an offensive lineman from that aspect of the game. But, you know, as offensive linemen, as you know, we just put our nose to the grindstone and keep going. That's all we can do and try to keep your emotions, you know, pretty leveled out. Is it frustrating to see the NFL go away from the run game so much?

I mean, I know that we love running the football, but look, you have a quarterback now that'll throw the ball. He's not going to get hit. Like you don't have to worry about that. Like almost pass protection. Now it's going to be the easiest anyone's ever had in Tampa for, for a long time. But you miss like the, the kind of old style. I mean, in Baltimore, that's what you guys did. You ran the ball, you play action pass,

you bootleg a little bit. That kind of style is, is there some places, but it's not really what, especially now you have all the wide receivers and tight ends and running backs. You're not running the football anymore. Yeah. Yeah. No, it's definitely as an offensive lineman, it gets frustrating because, you know, it gives us a chance to put our weight on the defense, defensive line and instead of the defensive line, there's always trying to run down our throat. But I mean, it sucks. Yeah.

You know, I'm an aggressive player obviously. And I want, I want to go run the ball, and I want to go insert my will on people. But honestly, it's such a catch-22. Yeah, I want to run the ball, but at the same time, I don't really care as long as we're winning. I think it was 2015 or 2006. I can't remember we played the miami dolphins and like we went into the game saying oh we're gonna we're gonna establish a run we're gonna do this we're gonna do that and then joe just went off for like 600 yards throwing or

yeah i don't know if it's 600 but like he just he he had a hot hand and we literally like i think it might actually 2014 when we had Kubiak. Like literally we're like, hey, we're going to run the ball. We're going to, you know, kill the clock, you know, control the pace of the game with the run game. And then Joe just ended up going off and throwing like five touchdowns. And, you know, I think we ran the ball ten times. You know, that's just how it goes sometimes.

But I don't care how many times we run the ball as long as we win. But it's always nice to be able to assert our dominance on another person. You mentioned your aggressiveness. And if someone were to describe your style of play, that would be the first word that they use. You have an unusual way to get underneath the skin of defenders. How much pride do you take in that? Because as offensive linemen, we have a tough job,

and we can dish it out to the other side. It feels pretty good. But you take that a little bit to the extreme. Has that always been the way you've played? Yeah, I mean, I don't want to say always, but I go all the way back to my my freshman year in college at csu pueblo you know i was six three 225 pounds and uh they actually recruited me to play dn and then when i showed up i hadn't uh offense alignment number and offensive jersey in my locker and i'm like oh

they got me but uh but um i i my offensive line coach in college, he goes, you know, you're 235 and you're our best option right now at tackle. You know, left tackle, actually strong tackle. We played, we would flip sides. I always went to the strong side and it was kind of strange. It actually, I think actually helped me in my NFL career, being able to just switch stances really easily and not really have any issues but he goes you've got to play with the sense of urgency and the sense of uh just nasty because you're undersized and um not that strong and and just i mean just go look yourself in the mirror you're you're you look like a tight end playing tackle i'm like okay and you know he just he always would push for this this nasty

finish and being a mosquito that's how he that's always how he's kind of describing he goes you know we're like one of those can't see you like bugs that just like get in your ear and you can't can't ever kill it and it just never goes away and eventually you're just going to snap and start you know freaking out and that's kind of how he would always explain uh you know finishing through the whistle and the second whistle and you know eventually until the refs come and break you up you know just being a little annoying just the extra little you know not even a shove you know the little little fingers to the ribs just kind of like hey just kind of back up a little bit and just you know always keeping your hand on on for the last time. You know, that gets under guys' skins. And it's – for me, that's just – I take pride in getting guys out of their game.

Because honestly, if you can get somebody out of their game, they get more worried about trying to kick your ass than actually making plays. And to me, it's like if I can get into somebody's head, game's over. Like the rest of the game is going to be relatively easy for me. Because now they're more worried about trying to kick my ass instead of making a play on the running back or the other quarterback. So that's just kind of the way I play. And then obviously through the finish, through the whistle and always trying to throw somebody on their back.

That's just the way I play the game. You were a sixth round pick out of, you mentioned CSU Pueblo, which is not obviously a highly regarded football school, no offense to the Pueblos. Did you think you were going to get drafted? You were a sixth-round draft pick. And then did you, like looking back on your transition, was it easier?

Was it harder? How did you think it would go versus how it actually went? Yeah, definitely, you know, Pueblo. Not to, you know, we've won like i think nine of the last uh 10 conference championships for nobody sorry sorry sorry and a national championship in 2014 but yeah sorry guys yeah but no sorry thunderwolf sorry thunderwolf fans i'm sorry right it's a thunderwolf-friendly podcast. But no, yeah, definitely in college, going to a Division II school on a $2,500 scholarship, 215 pounds when I graduated high school, I didn't think I had any type of shot to go in the NFL. And honestly, I almost didn't even go to college.

I started working right when I graduated from high school. I started working with my uncle who owns his own roofing company and, you know, was throwing roofs on and shingles and all that fun stuff and was making, you know, decent money for an 18 year old. And my mom actually forced me to go. She goes, you already signed your letter of intent. You're going to you're going to go for the first year. And if you if you don't like it, you know, you got three months to uh take over all your bills i'm like all right sounds good and obviously i went in my my freshman year and started and then it was just like a progressive thing for me i went from 230 to 265 295 to about 310 my senior year uh my junior spring uh you know my junior year i didn't give up any sacks i didn't

really have any any bad plays and my offensive line coach came up to me and he goes, Hey, I think you got a legitimate shot. And I'm like, you know, he was trying to motivate me, you know, play. So I literally, you know, I was talking to my parents about it. I'm like, Hey, I don't, I don't want to work this summer. They go, okay, well, then you're gonna have to sell your dirt bike and sell some stuff to have that money to live over the summer. If you're not going to be working like, well let me text simon and and you know make sure he's just not you know bsing me i literally i text him like hey are you being serious about this thing with the nfl

and think that i you know i got a chance and he just a one word answer he always sent back was was yes so i was like all right so it ups on my dirt bike and just really focused on on me through that summer going into my senior year and you know during camp i was having scouts coming during uh practice during the week i had a bunch of scouts coming so it started really coming to you know fruition that you know holy hell i actually might have a chance and um you know obviously i i get drafted uh pick 203 in the sixth round in 2013 and you know, just that underdog mentality has always been something that I've tried to live and act out through my career. And, you know, my rookie year, I ended up making the team, even though I broke my foot the third day of training camp, didn't even have a training camp, didn't get any preseason games. I made the team that kept me active all year.

I was inactive on game day for you know every every week and that kind of actually it's like the best thing that happened for me in my career uh you know i got i got complacent and i went into my second year thinking oh you know i broke my foot they kept me on the roster so i relaxed and then ended up getting my ass cut and put on practice squad for the last, you know, until the last two games of the year. And they activated me and all that. But, you know, that just reignited that kind of underdog mentality. And I've been trying to, you know, through the years, you know, going into year eight, still kind of remembering where you came from.

You know, people always say this, you know, you have first round picks that might get, you know, five, six different opportunities. But if you got a six round that that might get you know five six different opportunities but if you got a six round pick you get one maybe two opportunities if even that many so that's kind of how I've you know I got my second chance and I didn't want to I didn't want to screw that up so I I went back to that kind of underdog mentality and it's really uh propelled me through my career for sure I've long said that your draft slot is the most determining fact, highest determining factor typically in success in the NFL,

because if you're a first round draft pick, you can get cut two, three, four times. Someone's going to be like, well, he's a first round draft pick. I'm going to sign him. If you're a late round draft pick, you get one, two times maybe you get cut before you're out of the NFL. Yeah. That's just, that's just the way it is. And, you know, fair, unfair, you know, nothing's fair in life. But, you know, that's just kind of the truth behind it.

You know, you see a lot of first-round picks who, you know, get cut maybe their second, third year, and then they bounce around to five different teams in the next two years. As a six-round pick, usually that's not how it works. Yeah, it's crazy. But here you are, year eight. Let's talk about the here and now. So we are about a month away from when training camp is supposed to start.

The PA has, again, outlawed workouts with players. I don't think they're going to listen to that because guess what? You have to get ready to play in a month. How certain are you that we're going to start on time? Yeah, you know, kind of like everybody else, nobody really knows what the heck's going on. But personally, I just kind of attack it like we're, you know, we're going to start on time and everything's going to be relatively normal.

Obviously, there's, you know, talking with people who, you know, player reps and stuff like that. You know, things are going to be really weird. But honestly, I think, I think we start on time and I wouldn't be surprised if we, if we cut out two preseason games, just that way, we can have a little bit of an acclimation period, you know, the first two weeks we get back into camp or whatever, and then, and then, you know, get into it. But, you know, it's, it's going to be strange.

I think, I think we start on time, you know get into it but you know it's it's going to be strange i think i think we start on time you know i hope we we have a season this year you know with the development i think yesterday or two days ago how they're saying they're going to you know tarp off the first 10 rows of the stadium and and and so i saw your tweet you know the nfl state making money you know by advertising and stuff like that but uh no i think it's going to be a normal start time. You know, there's going to be some buffers and weird stuff that everybody, players, coaches, trainers, you know, front office, everybody's going to have to get used to.

But, you know, I think we're on track to start on time as long as nothing crazy happens. So we don't have fans in the NFL. Outside of three stadiums, I think, Seattle, New Orleans, and Kansas City, home field advantage, in my opinion, isn't a thing in the NFL. I mean, even those teams lost three games. Seattle and Kansas City lost three games each at home last season, first time in a long time.

How do you think the game will be effective if there's no fans, 25,000 fans? Like, do you think it matters as much to winning and losing? I think college is a big issue. I think college, you see a big swing. But in the NFL, have you felt that home field advantage is really that important? I mean, in a sense, a little bit. Tampa, the last two years, we haven't had huge crowds

and stuff like that. But, uh, you know, there's different aspects of home field advantage. For example, you know, you got a, you got a team from up North who comes down here in mid September and it's 95 degrees and 80% humidity, you know, that's home field advantage for us because we're used to that heat. But, uh, you know, it's the crowd noise and stuff like that like like you said outside of new orleans kansas city and and seattle i mean it's it gets loud places but yeah uh not not like that and you know we can still communicate and you know we have a silent count and all that all that stuff but

uh you know it's to me it's crowd noise for me anyway. So once you get on the field, you kind of just zone it out and you go to work. So there's a little bit of advantage, but not a crazy amount, I don't think. You mentioned previously about, you know, the support staff and trying to figure out how everything's going to work with the physical distancing. I saw the NFL guidelines, you know, locker six feet apart, meeting rooms only a certain amount of people. There's no room. I don't know how they're going to make it to where, look, NFL facilities, guys, are just a facility. Like there's just enough

lockers for 65 guys. There's just enough weight room for 65 guys. There's a cafeteria for maybe 100 people. The team meeting room seats 65 people or really 90 people for camp like it's not that big so do you think these are actually practical i don't i think the nfl it's good they put them out there's a contingency plan for this but i feel like when you get to the august 1st you're either going to be in or out like you can't kind of do this middle way thing with this just do you think it's possible in your facility to do the things that they've requested NFL facilities do? You know, it's going to be a huge challenge. And, you know, just listening to, you know, different brainstorms of, you know, what the PA is trying to do.

And, you know, in our facility, for example, like I saw a picture from one of the coaches who on the offensive line meeting room, it said the maximum occupancy of 10 people. It's like, in an offensive line room, we're going to have during camp 17 people with two coaches, like usually 15, 16 guys and then two coaches. It's like, how are we going to do this? It's like, oh, vets, you're good. You can go out while we teach the young guys. Or it's going to be like, hey, sorry, young guys.

You're going to, you know, you're probably not going to be here anyways. Like it's crazy. And then the whole locker room're gonna you know you're probably not gonna be here anyways like it's it's crazy and then the whole locker room thing you know i've heard you know they're gonna go every other locker and then uh you know the the young guys or whatever gonna have to do over because our facility is probably a quarter mile half mile from the stadium and put everybody else in the stadium locker rooms and kind of go from there. And then it's like the shower issue. In our showers in our locker room, we have normally like, I think, 20 showers, shower heads and like communal shower.

And they're only going to have two of them activated. Like you can only use two of them. So now it's like, oh, well, are we going to have to get like shower trailers? And it's just crazy thinking about the logistics of what we're going to have to do. But, you know, it's like, oh, well, are we going to have to get like shower trailers? And it's just crazy thinking about the logistics of what we're going to have to do. But, you know, it's, I mean, there's a lot of money to be made. So they're going to figure out a way, that's for sure.

Yeah. Are you personally worried about getting sick? Because for me, I've kind of said for a couple weeks now, I feel like the athletes themselves, like if you don't have any previous conditions, i think most guys aren't worried about getting sick i feel like your loved ones getting sick or even the coaches i mean your coaches are older typically i'm more worried about coaches than i am players like are you personally worried about the virus for yourself for me you know not really it's you know young in shape you know in shape hey rounds of shape all right uh you know but for me personally you know not really

i don't have any like you know issues medical issues like you know that would you know if i got that virus would be really detrimental to me you know, that would, you know, if I got that virus, it'd be really detrimental to me. You know, obviously I worry about, you know, my parents coming into town and, and, and family. And obviously that, you know, coaches, they, you know, they, they are older. Most of them are, you know, in their forties, fifties, you know, some 60, 70, you know, that obviously there's a, there's an issue with that. And you don't want to see them get sick because, you know, obviously with their age, you know, that obviously there's a, there's an issue with that. And you don't want to see them get sick because, you know, obviously with their age, it's, it's more dangerous for them, but it's just one of these things.

It's like eventually the world's going to have to open back up and we just can't, we can't hide in our houses forever. And, you know, obviously I don't, I don't want people dying and, and stuff like that, but eventually, you know, the world's going to have to go back to normal or we're just going to live in fear our entire lives. And I'm not one to just sit here and live in fear for sure. But for me, I'm not worried about it for me personally. I mean, I've said this on our podcast Monday. The reason why I want football back,

obviously it's selfish reasons I want to work and I want to watch guys play football and all that, is like it feels like football back is some normalcy, right? Like some sort of way we're getting back to. No, there might not be fans. There might not be a full season. Who knows? But it feels like normalcy.

If you don't have that there, to your point, like at some point, you got to kind of continue life, especially if we don't have a vaccine. I don't think you can wait for it. So let's end on a happy note. Let's talk about food.

You mentioned the weight you've gained throughout your life to get to where you are now. You like to cook a lot. What is a favorite thing that you like to grill? You're a big grill guy. Yeah. I mean, steak, obviously.

Like I just had a nice, juicy, thick cut ribeye. You know, I'll throw it on the smoker for, you know, 45, 50 minutes, about 250, you know, get that internal temp right about 119 degrees, then straight into a uh piping hot cast iron pan and and sear as you're over licking your lips you know getting all getting all hungry and stuff you know sear and some butter some herb you know stuff like that and uh nice nice medium rare thick cut steak slice it on the cutting board present it nice on the plate and then then chow down a little salt we'll pull salt on top a little salt are you are you a trigger guy though i'm i'm a trigger guy i'm

about to be a free agent but uh it's uh i feel like i feel like trigger like i have a green egg and it's not the best for smoking it's good for a bunch of things it will smoke fine i'm a big like wood wood smoke family i think that the bark of like an actual smoke with all wood is what i really want i didn't realize the egg doesn't you really can't put more wood in there once it kind of burns off um but i think i think trader is kind of cheating i'm not gonna lie i think it's a little i think it's cheating i think it's like cheating the process yeah it's a little different because like it's it's definitely you just set it and go but uh you know i actually i just quote unquote signed with a a barbecue joint here and and uh it's called just grill and it's a uh yeah i wish they're paying me but it's more just for fun

but uh they're uh gonna be like once every like two or three weeks they're gonna bring me a different type of uh uh grill for me to cook, you know, do some content on and stuff like that. So it's going to be pretty cool to be able to see a couple of different different styles of grills and smokers and stuff like that. So it'll be a it'll be a cool little cool little project for me. cool little project for me. What's the one thing that you've wanted to cook, but you're either not really afraid, but you don't really like kind of know how to do it.

So you really haven't done it yet. Is there one thing that you're like, man, I really, I really want to attack this, but not quite sure yet. I don't know yet. I mean, there's, there's a couple of different things. I've always wanted to do like a whole like pig, like on a, on a smoker or i've actually i've wanted to do it um uh at pueblo we had a bunch of hawaiians that played on our team and they you know they used to do the luau's and they would they would dig a pit and and throw the

i've always wanted to do that i just i i could probably do it in colorado when there's no fire ban and stuff like that but i've always wanted to like do it like traditional like ground, you know, and do something like that. I just I've never done it. And, you know, having somebody banana leaves. Yeah, I just to me, it just seems like such a cool process. And like the meat that when you know, when it's done cooking and they pull that thing out is unreal. It's like nothing you've ever tasted. Like how moist that pork is, it's just unreal. A whole pig. Yeah, I miss like in Oregon, we had a bunch of Polynesians and Hawaiians.

And they're like, they had a house, Uso house, like seven, eight guys there, man. The food on the weekends was unbelievable. Unbelievable. So when you go, I'll end with this. When you go to different cities now, you're an older guy. I know things are a little different now. Like when I was playing, and I'm not that much older than you, but when I was young, 2008, 9, 10, 11, 12,

whenever we would go out to a visiting city, we'd go out and eat. Like New Orleans, we'd go to Drago's. We'd go eat. We'd go eat. Do you guys go out and still eat as an offensive line? Do you enjoy that process? Or guys just like – I think I found like toward the end of my career, I just go eat by myself. Maybe they didn't like me.

I don't know. But guys, they don't hang out anymore. Yeah, for sure. We actually, every Thursday night, we do an O-line dinner. Good. And we have, you know, you start with the oldest guy in the room. They pay first. And, you know, you go all the way down.

And the guy who's paying gets to pick the restaurant and it's awesome but yeah even like on like saturdays you know we get into a uh away city or whatever you know there's probably there's probably like four or five of us that that go out you know i go out with uh you know blaine gabbert last year when he would travel with us before he got you know he was on ir but he still traveled to games and stuff we'd go out uh earl watford and uh like earl uh he was office lineman he yeah he knew all the spots in every city that he ever went so like i just hung out with him because he always took me to the best uh spots like when we traveled to LA last year, like Earl, we literally, we went out there on Friday. So we had two days there. When we got in on Friday, Friday morning or whatever, we went and, obviously we went and practiced and did all that.

But after that we had about five, six hours of free time. I think we stopped at no less than nine different like taco joints in LA. And he goes, everyone's just like unreal and it has different profile and i'm like all right cool let's let's do it then obviously i had to weigh in on saturday and that wasn't good but uh wait wait y'all wait y'all wait saturdays sometimes yeah oh you're that's tampa bay training staff i don't like that's messed up equipment staff i'm not going to that weight staff Weight staff. Don't weigh guys on Friday. I'll tell you what. Tom Coughlin, and I love Tom.

I really do. He weighed us the day after Thanksgiving. That's not nice, Tom. Okay. I think my strength coach was nice enough to give me a pound or two that day. How do you weigh us after Thanksgiving? Come on, man. Yeah, it's not good.

If you don't come to weigh-ins after Thanksgiving, you're not at least three or four pounds heavier, you didn't have a good thanksgiving you're not doing it right all right ryan we really appreciate you i guess we i really appreciate you uh coming on today stay safe good luck this year i'm looking forward to your first story about your your sweat towel not working properly and tell me that's going to be an amazing story thank Thank you, buddy. Definitely. Appreciate you. All right, everyone. Hope you enjoyed the interview with Ryan Jensen, a good friend of mine. Fantastic. Get his insight. And have a great

weekend, everyone. Remember, stay safe and healthy. Have a great one, everybody. Thank you.