His Dream Through Me, Pt. 1: Ryan Jensen

DAVID GREENE, HOST: Welcome to Sports in America. I’m your host, David Greene.
What role do sports play in your life? Or in your family dynamic? If you have siblings, did it change as you grew up? When Ryan Jensen was a kid, his older brother Seth was the one who seemed destined for greatness in the NFL. It caught everyone by surprise when Ryan got there instead.
Today on Sports in America, we’re bringing you a story about family, their expectations of us, and what happens when we subvert them. When we and the people closest to us think we know where we’re headed, but fate has something else in mind, and we change course. Ryan Jensen was a center in the NFL. He’s retired now, but he spent nine years in the league, five with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
To get you into Ryan’s life story, we’re going to take you back in time… to one specific game.
[SOUND OF BROADCAST OF GAME STARTING]
RYAN JENSEN: It was crazy. I think at one point we were down 27-3, I think, that’s, yeah, that sounds about right. And at that point, it’s like, we’re going against one of the best defensive lines we’ve played all year.
DG: It’s January of 2022, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are playing the LA Rams in the NFC Playoffs. Tampa Bay is coming off a Super Bowl win the prior season, but this game is not looking good for them.
[SOUND OF BROADCAST FROM GAME]
At the start of the third quarter, Bucs center Ryan Jensen and his teammates are deflated.
RJ: You feel like [bleep]. You lose your swag, you lose your energy, you lose your body posture. Guys are slumped over, they’re not, it’s hard when you’re down four scores in a playoff game, win or go home, and you’re down four scores all of a sudden, it’s real easy to all of sudden, your chest caves in and you’re not walking around like badasses like you should be.
DG: If the Bucs want their season to go on, they have to claw back at least 24 points in just 20 minutes. Ryan is just about ready to give up completely. But there’s one guy who won’t let him.
RJ: And then you have a guy come tell you, “Hey, we have a chance.” And you want to go, “Hey, yeah, yeah. OK, we don’t… we have a chance? Yeah right.”
DG: That guy would be Bucs quarterback Tom Brady. Maybe you’ve heard of him. Star quarterback with 23 seasons under his belt, and seven Super Bowl rings. He is not convinced this game is over. And he might have been the only person who could’ve gotten Ryan and the rest of the o-line on board.
RJ: As an offense, especially, we started going through the small things, and the small things ended up getting into success. And then, we got the ball rolling and got some momentum.
MUSIC
DG: So the Bucs keep pushing. In the third quarter, they get a field goal…
[SOUND OF BROADCAST OF FIELD GOAL, CROWD CHEERING]
… Slowly chipping away at this deficit. And they keep going. As it does in football, the momentum is shifting in the Bucs’ favor.

RJ: You know, we start grinding back, we score a touchdown…
[SOUND OF BROADCAST OF TOUCHDOWN]
… We come back, and then I think the next series, defense gets a pick. We go down and score another touchdown.
[SOUND OF BROADCAST]
DG: After 20 minutes of the Bucs locking in and controlling the game, they are now tied, 27 all.
[SOUND OF BROADCASTERS ANNOUNCING THE SCORE]
RJ: And at that point, the momentum, you know, we’d scored, well, at that point, 24 unanswered. In my mind, all we needed was the defense to get a stop and go to overtime, and if we get the ball, we’re gonna go down the field and we’re going to score. It was, the crowd was loud. I’ve never heard Ray J that loud.
DG: Ray J, that is Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida.
RJ: Like it was, it was unreal.
[SOUND OF CROWD CHEERING]
DG: Are you feeling it then?
RJ: Personally what I was feeling was we’re going to win the game.
DG: But the game is not over yet. Ryan is on the sideline, praying his defense can make one more stop or at least run out the clock — and the game will go into overtime.
RJ: You know, I’m amped up. I’m a pretty fiery guy, so I’m on the sideline, like, kind of, like, pacing back and forth, like a pissed off bull.
DG: Talking to anyone, or are you just in your own… having your own Ryan time?
RJ: Yeah, in my own space, having some Ryan time, like getting ready to, you know, mentally, get ready for overtime and get ready for, just get ready for whatever was next in that situation, you know, whether they got them to go three and out, or turn over because they’d been crazy already. They got two turnovers in a row.
DG: You had faith in your defense.
RJ: Definitely. I had all the faith in the world in the defense.
DG: The biggest threat to the Bucs’ chances? Rams #10, star wide receiver Cooper Kupp.
RJ: You know, in the back of my mind, all I’m thinking is, “Keep #10 contained. Just keep him contained, keep him contained, because that’s where they’re gonna go.”
DG: Cooper Kupp.
RJ: Yeah, Cooper Kupp, and that’s what I’m thinking. I’m walking back and forth. I’m like, “Don’t let this guy dictate the game, don’t this guy win the game.” And that’s just kind of, I think that’s kind of everybody’s thought in that moment, because obviously Cooper is a hell of a player, and he’s one, a top guy in the NFL for a reason, and what he does is unreal, how he can get open and how he plays the game is amazing, but… That’s, in that moment, I’m like, “We’re gonna win this game. We’re gonna win this game, keep 10 contained, keep 10 contained.” That’s kind of what’s going through my head. And obviously, you know, first down, they get like a 15- or 20-yard gain. And I’m, like… And I’m like, “It’s all right. It’s all right, clock’s moving, clock’s moving.”
DG: And it was to number 10.
RJ: I mean, it was, yeah. I think he caught three balls in that drive. Obviously the final ball that was like a 40-yard bomb to the like plus 25 or plus 30. You know, that was the dagger. But yeah, the range of emotions were crazy because you go from amped up to all of a sudden, you know, Stafford’s hooking the ball 50 feet in the air and, you know 40 yards downfield and he catches it.
[SOUND OF BROADCAST]
DG: That’s all the Rams needed. That deep catch brought them into field goal range.
[SOUND OF BROADCASTERS ANNOUNCING FINAL SCORE]
Even after a glorious comeback, Ryan and his team still lost.

MUSIC
RJ: I tell people this all the time when they ask about that game. It’s like, at that point, I wish we would have just lost by 40 because of the emotional roller coaster. It’s like, when he caught that ball it’s just like all that emotion and fiery and that like we’re gonna we’re going to win this game just disappeared in like, in snap of the fingers. It was, I haven’t gotten heartbroken in a football game very often, just because it’s the game. But in that moment, when he caught that ball, it was just like, instant dagger to the heart. The sound of a stadium, the air coming out of a stadium is something I’ll never forget. Because when he caught that ball, the stadium was rocking. And then all of a sudden it went, I mean, you could hear a pin drop.
DG: When Kupp caught that ball.
RJ: When Cooper caught that ball. And the stadium just went silent. And all you heard was their sideline celebrating and cheering and, like, that sound, I can’t, I’ll never be able to forget that sound because it was, it’s such an eerie feeling and eerie sound. It’s like silence and then, you know, 60 guys on the other sideline freaking out.
DG: So interesting because I bet a lot of this sport, fans and players can’t really share a moment or an experience. But that feeling you’re describing, I feel like every single Bucs fan in that stadium felt the same thing you were feeling.
RJ: Yeah, it was crazy because it’s like, I think that reaction between fans and players, and especially in a home stadium like that, it was immediately, everybody just went to, like, what just happened? And they’re freaking out. They kicked the field goal. Then again, it’s dead silent. Kick the field goal, they make it. And they, their sideline goes berserk again. And it’s just, it’s a sound and a feeling that definitely will stick with me for the rest of my life.
DG: At that point, Ryan reached out for some comfort from a place that a lot of us learn to as kids.
RJ: I wanted my dad to sit in the truck with me and drive home with me.
DG: You’re driving, he’s in the passenger seat?

RJ: Yeah. Whenever life gets hard for me and I just need, like, advice, I always, I always talk to my dad. Just, he’s very intelligent and he knows how to, you know, he knows how to talk to me.
DG: Mm-hmm. What did he tell you in the truck?
RJ: It was just, you know we talked about everything about, you know is that, you know my last game and in Ray J? Is that, you know, is this my last game ever?
DG: Ever?
RJ: Just like, you know all these emotions. You know, there’s…
DG: You’re thinking about everything.
RJ: You’re just thinking about everything at that point. You know, like, in an emotional rollercoaster like that, it’s tough. Because you know you start thinking about, “Well you know that was fun. Can I prepare myself another season to go put myself through potentially something like that?” You know we’re just talking about everything, we’re talking about free agency, we’re talking about, you know, the house, we’re talking about stuff back in Colorado. It was just this conversation about life and everything that else is important in life besides football.
DG: Like what? What’s important?
RJ: Just like just family and, you know, my kids, my wife, you know? Being a good role model for, you know, for my kids, being a good role model for kids that look up to me that, you know, from my community or from you know Tampa. It’s just a full-on conversation about, just, it was just a dad conversation about life. And you know it was you know 15-20 minute drive from the stadium to my house and that’s what I needed.
DG: When Ryan got home, his whole family was waiting for him on pins and needles.
MUSIC
RJ: I had my whole family there, my niece, my nephew, my kids, everybody. My nephew came up to me, kind of, like, guarded, he’s 10.
DG: I’m sure everyone’s like, “Can we talk to Uncle Ryan?”
RJ: Everybody’s a little bit on edge. Exactly, everybody’s a little like, after a loss like that, everybody’s expecting me to be a little salty and grouchy, which, you know, that’s one of those things.
DG: It’s justified.
RJ: It’s justifiable and all that, but my nephew comes up to me and…
DG: He’s your brother’s son.
RJ: Yeah, my brother’s son. And he comes up to me. He goes, “Hey Uncle Red, I’m sorry you guys lost. I love you.”
DG: Uncle Red?
RJ: Yeah, that’s…
DG: Love it.
RJ: Yeah, and I’m like, “Hey buddy. Thanks.” I’m like, “Come here, give me a hug” and all that. He goes, “You’re in a better mood than I thought.” I’m, like, “Yeah, bud, it’s tough. But you know, it’s one of those deals that, that’s football. You know, It’s an emotional game and, and sometimes you come out on the, on the [bleep] end of it.”
THEME MUSIC
DG: In this 2022 playoff game, Ryan lived through the characteristic ups and downs of pro football. Just when he thought his season was over, his team made the kind of absolutely insane comeback that keeps sports fans sticking around, devoted to their teams through as many hard battles and losing seasons as it takes. Yet still the Bucs couldn’t land that W in the end.

That’s what can make sports so compelling, right? There’s always a chance that everything can change. And this was true in Ryan’s life as well. As he looked down at his Super Bowl ring during our 2022 conversation, he knew: None of his success was supposed to happen. It was supposed to be his brother’s.
RJ: That was always his dream. You know, he was always the better athlete, always the bigger, more developed guy. But… he just couldn’t, his luck was, was, was [bleep].
DG: Over the next two episodes of Sports in America, we’re telling the story of the Jensen brothers — the expectations people had for them, and how they subverted them. What happens when two brothers seem to switch places, and their destinies shift in a way that shocks their family, friends, and each other?
RJ: Going into the first game, I’m getting all taped up and getting ready. And I’m just kind of like, I’m thinking I’m like, “I’m playing for my brother.” Like, this is like, “He’s with me. I’m playing this game because he loves this game. I love the game too, but you know, I wanna do something for him.” And then from that point on, through the rest of my college career, on my tape I always put HDTM, which is, “His dream through me.”
DG: That’s coming up next, on Sports in America.

[MIDROLL]

Welcome back to Sports in America. I’m David Greene.

To help understand the story of the Jensen brothers, let’s start with a little background on Ryan and Seth’s family. Their parents encouraged them to play sports from an early age. And it wasn’t just football.
So you guys, I read, like martial arts in your family. Taekwondo was like a big family thing. You, your brother, your parents.
RJ: Yeah, so, by the time… When I was 3, I think 3 years old, is when I started doing Taekwondo, and the whole family did it. My parents actually owned a Taekwondo studio growing up. That was like their side business, where they would teach martial arts and teach Taekwondo and all that.
MUSIC
Looking back on it now, I don’t know how my parents did it. Just because, you know, my dad, we grew up a very, you know, blue collar, hardworking family, you know, never had extra money at the end of the month. And you know my dad’s working from 5 a.m. to 7 p.m in a natural gas field, you know, working on overhauling big compressor buildings.
DG: Jesus, how do you have the energy to do Taekwondo at the end of a day like that?
RJ: Exactly. So like, yeah, so now he’s coming home, he’s running to the house real quick, taking a shower, going over to the studio, and then he’s teaching until 10, 11 o’clock at night.
DG: Wow. Technique-wise, does that, is it help you with the technique of being a lineman? Like, is there some kind of connection there? Between martial arts and…
RJ: Yeah, so like, Taekwondo is mainly a striking with your feet. So it’s mainly a kicking martial art. And there’s not a lot of, for example, when you’re sparring and competitively sparring in Taekwondo, you can’t punch to the face. You can kick to the head, kick to the body. You can punch to the body, but Taekwondo is mostly kicking, compared to, like, something like karate, where, you know, you’re punching and doing a little bit more hand striking. So for me, I feel like growing up doing Taekwondo really helped with my feet and being able to operate out of weird positions when my feet get kind of jacked up and maybe my legs get crossed or, you know, being able to move and produce power out of awkward positions. So I-
DG: This is all lineman [bleep] that you’re describing right now.
RJ: Yeah, exactly, yeah.
DG: Not getting crossed up in your legs.
RJ: Yeah.
DG: Power from the legs.
RJ: So like I feel like martial arts definitely is something… I always, I always tell parents, cause you know, parents always come up like, “Hey, you did martial arts. Do you think that helps with your football career and your athleticism?” I go, “Absolutely.”
DG: “My son wants to play football. Should I put him in Taekwondo?”
RJ: Exactly. And I think there is a connection between that. I think doing martial arts helps you not only with your athleticism, but discipline, because you know a lot of martial arts are based around being very disciplined in what you do. So I always tell parents that, “Yeah, I think it’s a good idea to, one, you put your kids in, into a martial art or something like that that will help with athleticism, but also martial arts teach a lot of life skills when it comes to discipline and respect and things of that of that nature,” because especially maybe there’s one that’s a single-parent home where they need somebody to you know be that other voice of teaching discipline and teaching you how to be disciplined because you know you hear it from mom all the time or hear from dad all the time.
DG: Also your Taekwondo instructor potentially.
RJ: Now you have another male or female, person in your life who is, who is teaching you how to be a disciplined person.
DG: Ryan taps into those early lessons he learned from sports all the time. Like in that devastating playoff loss in 2022. As heartbreaking as it was, Ryan sort of knew how to process a game like that. He’d been through many like it before when he played baseball as a kid.
Did anything in childhood, growing up, prepare you for a moment like that, a day like that?
RJ: I was 12 or 13 playing in C Legion baseball, and we’re in the state tournament getting ready to, you know, winner goes to the state championship game, and we go into extra innings. And it was one of those games where it was kind of a pitcher’s duel for half the game, and then all of a sudden the bats came alive on both teams. And then went back to like a pitchers duel. And I remember having a, I think it was, guy was on first and second. We were up by one and we were the away team. So they were, you know, bottom of the inning for them. And I was catching at the time. I’m calling the game, and our pitcher doesn’t put the ball where I want it. And guy just drills it into the gap, into left center. And our left fielder got to the ball as the guy was rounding third, and he crow hops and just hucks it. I mean beautiful ball. And I go to catch the ball, and like, I have to, it’s going to be like a quick bang bang, tag, and I swipe the ball. And I tag him, but the ball comes out of my glove.
DG: It’s like a catcher’s nightmare.
RJ: I had him hosed, but it was one of those where I couldn’t get two hands on the… it was like I had to, like, swipe tag him, hit him, he would have been out, but the ball came out of my glove. And like, it was just, in that moment, the disappointment that I, like, we did everything we could do right in that situation to get the guy out. You know, left fielder made a hell of a throw. Crow hopped it, or one hopped it right to me. I had, he was offline just a little bit, so I had to come across my body, so I mean, I’m, and hit the ball.
DG: If you make that tag, you win the state title.
RJ: We, at least, the game would be tied at that.
DG: The game would have tied. That was the winning run that would have…
RJ: That would have, you know, two outs. That was the winning run. And yeah, that was probably closest to, when I’m 12, playing an NFC Legion, compared to playing an NFC conference game.
DG: But letting go of the ball, the opponents win the state championship, and they’re celebrating on the…
RJ: Yeah, they’re celebrating, and it’s crazy.
DG: Ryan is no stranger to the emotional roller coaster of sports — or of life, for that matter.
Can I ask about your brother?
RJ: Of course.
DG: He’s your big brother, right? And it was, growing up, like, it was, his dream to play football was even bigger than yours, right.
RJ: Yeah, for sure. He was, you know, it’s crazy. A lot of people don’t know this about me and about my brother, but like, when I graduated high school, I was 210 pounds.
DG: Small guy.
RJ: Like a small guy compared to, you know, I’m 320 now. So I was just a, I was a, I was a late bloomer, but you know my brother was 6’4”, 285 pounds in seventh grade.
DG: He was built like a football player.
RJ: Just built like a, you know, a d1 athlete, which he was.
DG: Growing up, Seth was always the brother who seemed destined for athletic greatness. If anything, Ryan thought maybe he could make it in Major League Baseball. But Seth was the football star. He was a defensive lineman in high school. Like Ryan said, he was big. And he was good. Offers from D1 schools were pouring in.
RJ: He was a five-star recruit coming out of high school. He ended up going to the University of Nebraska.
DG: Big time program.
RJ: Big time, at the time.
DG: But before Seth ever played a snap of college football, he got really unlucky. Injuries to both knees and both shoulders that required surgery, and also a ruptured appendix.
RJ: He goes there, and he had nine surgeries in two and a half years. And then when Bo Pelini got the job, he ended up leaving the school and actually went to, was going to transfer to CSU Pueblo, where I ended up going and playing college football. I always joke around, the only reason I’m ever here is because Coach Wristen, who’s still the head coach at CSU Pueblo, offered me a scholarship before he offered my brother a scholarship to come down there, you know, just kind of as a, “Hey, look, we’re offering your brother a whole whopping two grand. Come down here, we’ll give you a full ride.” But yeah, I mean, that was always his dream. You know, he was always the better athlete, always the bigger, more developed guy. But he just couldn’t, his luck was, was, was [bleep]. And you know when he got down to Pueblo, he, he tried going through, you know, summer camp and, and actually playing and…
DG: So this is after he left Nebraska, you’re playing at Colorado State Pueblo, he comes to…
RJ: I’m a senior year of high school and he transfers to Pueblo, and he just couldn’t do it anymore. His knees just couldn’t handle it. Any time he would, every day after practice his knees would swell up and have fluid on his knees, and he couldn’t… You know, the pain got too much where it wasn’t worth the fight anymore, and so he ended up stepping away from ball.
DG: Just as Seth was forced to step away from football, Ryan had the opportunity to step in.

MUSIC

He got offered a small scholarship to play at the school that Seth transferred to. But he wasn’t sure it was the right move for him.
RJ: I almost didn’t go to college. So out of high school, I went and worked for my uncle who owns his own roofing company up in Fort Collins in Northern Colorado. And I went and started working for him at 17, making, at the time, what I thought was just like ass-kicking money.
DG: Mm-hmm.
RJ: Um, you know, I’m like, all right, cool. I can do this. This is, you know, it’s fun, and get to work out in the sun, work with my uncle, who I love. So I was tearing roofs off, repairs, everything, a little bit of everything. I’m like, maybe I’d already committed, already signed my letter of intent to go play for a whole whopping two grand at Colorado State Pueblo.
DG: So your brother had gotten a full ride there and they gave you two grand.
RJ: Yeah.
DG: Like almost, you felt like, as a, “Hey, your brother’s good, like, you can come play too.”
RJ: Yeah, exactly. But then my mom’s like, “Well, how about this? How about you, you’ve already committed to it. You’ve already signed, you know, you have all your paperwork, yada, yadda, ya. Go for a year. If you don’t like it, you got 90 days. After you drop out, you got 90 days to get your car, to take over your car payments, take over your phone and find somewhere to live.”
DG: Wow.
RJ: And she’s like, “You got three months.”
DG: She told you to go, just try one year.
RJ: She goes, “Go try one year.”
DG: Thank you, Mom, for that Super Bowl ring.
RJ: Yeah, exactly.
So yeah, Ryan decided to give college — and college football — a shot. But just for a year.
RJ: My freshman year, I go in and touch the field, you know, like game two, I become the starting left tackle.
DG: Ryan didn’t have any expectations. First of all, CSU Pueblo is a D2 school, so the NFL doesn’t really have it on their radar. Plus, like he said, he was pretty small. If he wanted to be a threat on the field, he would really have to bulk up.
How do you build 100 pounds? Like, is that, I mean, for me, it’d be like if someone said, “Go gain 100 pounds,” I’m thinking pizza and Mickey D’s. I mean is it like a very intense training program to…
RJ: Yeah, I think some of it was genetics, but a lot of it was a lot of hard work. I mean, like, I remember when I was trying to gain weight, and a lot people don’t realize like D2 football, you don’t have like a training table, like, you know, the big time programs where you can go and have steak every night and this and that. I’m going to Wendy’s and getting a triple, a Dave’s classic triple.
DG: Oh, so you really, it is like fast food if you want to gain weight.
RJ: That’s what had to be, because I couldn’t afford to, you know, eat properly healthy through college, because I didn’t have a per diem. By the end of the time, I was on a, pretty much a full ride, but that didn’t include food and board and all that. So I’m working summers, making sure I have money to eat and live on where…
DG: So summer work, eat a lot of Wendy’s, workout. Summer work, eat a lot of Wendy’s, workout.
RJ: Exactly. So like, that’s what I had to do to gain, gain the weight.
DG: Halfway through college, Ryan felt like he was at an inflection point. So he asked his big brother for advice.

MUSIC
RJ: But I remember going into junior year, just having a conversation with my brother about football and his kind of dream. And it was always his dream to play in the NFL. Like me, I never thought I had an opportunity. I never thought I had a chance, just because of my size. And it ended up I was just kind of a late bloomer.
And at that time, I’m just, I’m kind of playing for him. My sophomore year, I was kind of like, “I don’t really know if I like football anymore.” You know, I, you know, “I don’t know if I want to play anymore.” Like going after my sophomore year. And I talked to my brother and he’s like, “Oh, well, do what you need to do. I’m really proud of you. I’m very happy for you.”
DG: Did he mean it? Like was there some like, was there like, I don’t, I mean, there can be a complicated relationship where it’s like pure love wanting you to succeed, but also feeling like, “I wish I had that.”
RJ: No, I don’t feel like there’s any sense of resentment at all between me and my brother because, like we mentioned, it was his dream to always play in the NFL. But the game got taken from him because of his injuries and stuff like that. And then he started seeing, you know, his little brother has success, which, as an older brother, he always talks to me about, you know, you wanna see your siblings succeed and be kind of that leader and bring it in, bring your siblings up with you and stuff like that. So I never felt any resentment, but when we had that conversation, it kind of re-energized me to not take advantage of this game, because this game, it’s an awesome game and the amount of life lessons and stuff that you can learn from it.
DG: So what did he say to you in that conversation that stays with you?
RJ: It was just like, just how proud of me he was. Like, same thing as a younger sibling, you always want to make your older brother proud of you. You know, I remember coming through high school and I was a freshman, he was a senior, and you know, he’s this big time guy and I’m just, I’m proud of him. Like I’m excited for him. But there’s always that flip side of that, where now everybody thinks I’m going to be him. Where, you know now all of a sudden, “Oh, you’re Seth’s brother,” instead of, “Oh hey, you’re Ryan.” You know it was, there was a lot of that growing up, and I blame none of that on my brother. That’s just, that’s the society we live in. But having that kind of reversed on me, where I was always telling him, “Oh, I’m proud of you. Like, you’re kicking ass. I’m happy for you.”
DG: Now he’s telling you that.
RJ: Now he is telling me that.
DG: And he’s Ryan’s brother.
RJ: Exactly. It’s a weird feeling. So after that conversation, I remember going into the first game, I’m getting all taped up and getting ready. And I’m just kind of like, I’m thinking I’m like, “I’m playing for my brother.” Like, this is like, “He’s with me. I’m playing this game because he loves this game. I love the game too, but you know, I wanna do something for him.” And then from that point on, through the rest of my college career, on my tape I always put HDTM, which is, “His dream through me.”
DG: Oh wow. You’d write that on your tape.
RJ: I would write that, I would that on my tape and you know through my junior and senior year. And it was just like one of those things that just kept, it just reminded me whenever I started feeling sorry for myself in a game or in general, I would see that on my tape and be like, “Alright, hey, listen, you know, this is easy. You’re going through a hard time in a game or you’re tired or you’re fatigued or whatever. But I know he would do anything to be out here on the field.”
DG: So you, it was on your arm tape.
RJ: Yup, so it was…
DG: HDTM.
RJ: Yep, “His dream through me.” The first game of the year we were playing West Texas A&M. They were a top 10 team, division two. And at that point, we weren’t ranked, and everybody had written us off. This was like the first year we were like a very good team. And we went in there and kicked their ass. Like it was we we took it to them, kind of shocked the D2 world a little bit. And I just remember, you know, that was the first game I’d ever written that on my tape. I’m like, you know, kind of corny. I’m like, “I’m going to give that to my brother and see how he, you know, just give it to him, ‘cause whatever.”
DG: I don’t think it’s corny. It’s beautiful.
RJ: And, you know, his reaction was just awesome, like tears.
DG: Wow.
RJ: Like it was, it was a pretty cool brother moment for sure.
DG: With his brother’s dream as his motivation, Ryan made it big. In 2013, he got drafted in the sixth round to the Baltimore Ravens. He played five seasons there before moving to the Bucs in Tampa Bay. From 2017 through 2021 he started in every single game, and he was named to the Pro Bowl in 2021. That same year, he and the Bucs won the Super Bowl against the Kansas City Chiefs. Ryan was on the offensive line, playing as a guard and then a center for the duration of his career.
Being a lineman, there’s not a ton, at least to a fan looking from the outside, of like personal glory, because you’re like in the trenches just fighting play after play after play. Like what is that life like, and what does success look like as a lineman?
RJ: Yeah, so it was kind of funny. I just had this discussion last week. I was down in Dallas for a, it’s called O-Line Masterminds, and it’s just a bunch of the top o-line guys.
DG: All get together and hang out?
RJ: All get and kind of have like a pass rush summit where we kind of talk, we talk football, talk technique and hang out. We’re talking about just that, about like, “What does success look like? What is, why do we do it? What gets us going?” Because the only time we ever get recognition from the media usually is when either we drive somebody 20 yards down the field and dump them, or if we get a penalty. And, you know, driving NFL players 20 yards down the field and dumping them is not a very easy thing to do. A perfect game for me would be a hundred yards rushing, 125 yards rushing and no sacks. So whenever as a group, you can get the running back over a hundred yards, and you don’t give up any sacks, like we never get any recognition for that. As a group and as a o-line room, when we can do something like that, it’s like, that’s hitting a grand slam to win the game. Because that’s hard to do in this league, is to go over a hundred yards and give up no sacks. So that’s like our biggest pride thing is to make sure Tom doesn’t get hit, doesn’t get sacked, and we rush the ball really well. That’s what really gets, I think most o-linemen, that’s what gets us going.
DG: That’s the bar of success. I’ve read that you, you treat your teammates, in terms of how you protect them, like they’re your family.
RJ: It is, we spend, you know, kind of the sad truth, a little bit of a sad truth about it is, in season, we spend more time with our teammates than we do with our own family. And I wanna make sure guys on the field, for me, that we’re going out there and we’re going to battle, and we’re putting our bodies on the line, we’re putting our livelihood on the line every day. So for me, protecting my guys like they’re my family, it’s because I feel like their success depends on my success and, you know, my success depends on their success. So when you have a mentality of protecting your teammates and your friends and your family, like they are such, I feel like that just brings the team closer together.
DG: Do you guys all hang out?
RJ: As o-line, we, every Thursday night, we pick a restaurant around Tampa and go and eat or at somebody’s house and have a chef come in and cook. So every Thursday we have an o-line dinner, and we’re hanging out. And that’s our time to just kind of like BS and you know kind of be humans and not be football players and just kind of hang out, and have the hard conversations and the, you know, the conversations about life and what’s going on in the world and stuff like that.
DG: But as a center for the Bucs, Ryan wasn’t just protecting anyone. He was protecting seven time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady. What that was like… is coming up next, on Sports in America.
[MIDROLL]
This is Sports in America. I’m David Greene. So what was it like for Bucs center Ryan Jensen to be the guy responsible for protecting Tom Brady?
RJ: It’s funny because Tom, going from like pass protection, protecting that way, but then also like protecting him after plays and stuff like that. I remember we played, I think, I think it was the Thursday night game against the Eagles. It was against the Eagles. I can’t remember if it was a playoff game or the Thursday night game this last year. But he threw a pick, and a defensive player was, kind of, like, going after him, trying to, like, block him. And then, you know, Tom’s over there like throwing elbows and hitting him and [bleep]. I’m like, “Tom, what are you doing? Stop.” And then the guy kept going at him, and I just remember coming in and kind of getting in the middle and stopping it. And, you know, it’s a thankless job. A lot of people don’t appreciate it. Like my teammates appreciate it, but other people don’t get the understanding behind like the pride I take in, in making sure my guys are good.
DG: Does Tom appreciate it?
RJ: Oh, definitely. He definitely appreciates it. It’s kind of that relationship between, like a center and a quarterback is… You know, granted, we’ve only played two years together, but that relationship bonds really quick because we’re, you know, he’s communicating. I’m communicating to my guys. I’m communicating to him, you know, so far, so you have to have a good relationship. And, you know, if I didn’t care about him, if he didn’t care about me, it’d be one of those things where that would be very devastating to the success of the team because we have to be on the same page and we have to be, you know, in good working standard.
DG: Do you give each other [bleep] sometimes too?
RJ: Oh, all the time. Like, it’s, that’s a, that’s a normal occurrence, always giving, giving each other [bleep]. It’s funny, my son’s always joking around. We’ll be in public and we’ll start a conversation and somebody will come up to me and kind of recognize who I am. And my son will go, “Yeah, Tom Brady touches my dad’s butt.” Like, out of the blue. Like it’s just total 4 year old, cute little 4-year-old voice, “Yeah, Tom Brady touches my dad’s butt.” And I’m like, “Bud…”
DG: That’s amazing.
RJ: “You can’t be saying that.” But no it’s pretty cool.
DG: On the outside, we hear a lot of you guys talk about how Tom Brady can change the culture of an offense and a team and a franchise. Convince me. Is there a story or something that we haven’t heard that would convince us of that?
RJ: I mean, I think the thing with Tom is, that’s true, when it comes to changing the culture of a team or changing the skill set of a team. For example, like, my first couple years in Tampa, we had a very talented football team, but we couldn’t put things together. We, you know, whether it was quarterback play, line play, defensive play, there was always something in every game that we lost that, there was something that we couldn’t do correctly or we couldn’t do right. I think what Tom brings is, he brings this sense of accountability, and this sense of leadership where he knows everybody’s name on the team, and he knows kind of their story and he knows who they are, you know, if they got families. And he knows how to talk to certain personalities, where he can bring out the best in everybody. You know, so I think that’s the biggest thing. Like the talent obviously is there, the decision making on the field, but the leadership when it comes to bringing people along with him is a very hard skill not a lot of people have, but he’s one of those guys that has that natural ability to elevate everybody that’s around him.
DG: For Ryan, that 2022 playoff game against the Rams, that we talked about before? Perfect example of Tom’s impact on the field.
[SOUND OF FOOTBALL GAME, CROWD CHEERING]
MUSIC
RJ: We were taken out of the game emotionally at that point. And then, you know, Tom obviously, you know, he’s the king of comebacks and, you know, just had a moment with, you know, I think every position group on the field. You know we came off the field after punting and he came over to the o-line, went over the receivers, tight ends, running backs, and just was like, you know, “We just got to, we got to start doing the small things again.”
DG: What were you thinking when Brady is saying, “We got to do the small things”? Are you like, “There is no [bleep] way we’re coming back in this game?” Are you thinking, like, “OK, let me ride this train with him?”
RJ: Yeah, you know, there’s, there’s always that self doubt in a situation like that. I mean, you’re losing 27 to 3 in a, you know, divisional game and there seems to be no hope. And then you have a guy, just not a guy, but, you know, somebody else is coming in and telling you, “Hey, we have a chance.” You know, what are we, what are we talking about here? We’re down 20, we’re down four scores with, you know, I think 20, at that time, 20 minutes left in the game. Like there’s, that’s impossible against this defense.
DG: So what are the small things? Like, what was a small thing for you as a center to do?
RJ: It’s technique, playing smart. I felt like, early in that game, as a whole, we were trying to do all the big things. Make the big play, make the long touchdown, make the, the long pass, everything like that. And when you start focusing on the big things, the little things that get you to the big things go by the wayside. And then you start playing sloppy. And you’re not successful in what you’re trying to do. So when he talks about doing the little things. It’s about focusing on the mundane tasks of the everyday, every play type things. Mic points, technique, communication, over-communicating, just the little things that lead to the success of a play that, you know, the little things turn into the really big things when it comes to football. So I think what he was trying to tell us is that we’re focusing on the big things too much, and not focusing on the little things that will eventually lead to, you know, that success of making the big plays and going from there.
DG: Was Brady on your mind too? Like that might have been the last drive that you guys would ever be teammates?
RJ: Yeah. Definitely. I think that was kind of everybody’s idea, was, it’s crazy to be a part of that, thinking, “This is the end of his legacy.” And there was the rumors going around and everything like that. Then obviously he retired, unretired, all that. But in that moment, you’re like, “Is this how the greatest quarterback of all time is gonna go out?” Personally, I didn’t see it going that way. Granted, I was only with Tom for two years, but just the competitor and the things I’ve seen from him, I don’t see him going out that way.
DG: Brady was brutalized in that game against the Rams. I mean, it looked like he was being chased all over the place. Did you feel, like, take that personally? Like responsible for…
RJ: Yeah, definitely. I think as an offensive line group, we pride ourselves, like we talked about earlier about protecting the quarterback and not getting any sacks. And we always prided ourselves about being the backbone of the team. And that first half of that game, we were letting the team down.
DG: Did you, were you disappointed in, frustrated with your defense? I mean, you sat there being like, just cover 10, and they give up that massive pass that brings them into field goal range and…
RJ: No, I mean, if anything, I was more disappointed that we put our defense in that situation because of, because of us essentially as an offense not producing the entire game until the last 20 minutes of the game, we put our defense in a lot of bad spots, where they were able to get up 27-3. So, you know, really in… For us, and for me at least, if you don’t score and you don’t sustain drives as an offense, you can’t really blame the defense for giving up 30 points because they were on the field a lot. Time of possession was much in favor of LA for the first 40 minutes of that game. I think it was damn near like 28 to 12.
DG: How would you rewrite the story of that game last season?
RJ: Rewriting a game, it’s one of those things you can’t dwell on. Because it’s, one of things is if we played them again, same situation, same everything, the outcome could be completely different. We could blow them out, they could blow us out. That’s the beauty of football, it’s always that, “That’s why we play the game” mentality. Because whether you’re the underdog by 20 points, or you’re the, you know, you’re favored by 20, you never know what’s going to happen on Sunday. You just, for example, you look at you look at last year when we went into Washington and we were like, I think we were 24-point, favored by like 24 points, and they went in there beat our ass. Like that’s, that’s the beauty of football, is you have to show up, every every game and play, because everybody is, is a paid athlete and everybody’s a professional, so that’s, that’s definitely one of those things. It’s hard to say, “Oh, I would rewrite it in this fashion.”
DG: Ryan retired in 2024, after this knee injury that he just couldn’t recover from. During all six of his seasons in Tampa Bay, Ryan wore the number 66. Another tribute to his big brother.
I can’t let you go without asking about your number 66. Your brother is a connection there too, right?
RJ: Yes, my brother always wore 66.
DG: Why did he choose that?
RJ: I don’t know. It was his number, and seeing him wear it all the time, you know through high school, and then I then I started wearing it my junior or high school, and I’ve worn it really ever since. My first two years in Baltimore I was 77, and I hated it. It just didn’t feel right.
DG: At this point, people know Ryan for his career on the field. But soon he’s hoping that is gonna change.
MUSIC
DG: If you and I talk again in a few years, what moment would you think you’d want to talk about? Would it be football? Would it be non-football and more family? Like what?
RJ: I think, you know, there’s the football side of life, and then there’s the family side of life. For me, it’s just kind of, my story is kind of a cool story, you know? D2, sixth round pick, didn’t become a starter. Like, there’s a lot of different things to talk about, but I think, for me, you know, my next chapter after football’s over with, you know, in a couple years, whenever that may be, is what I want to do after football. And the big thing I want to do is, we just bought a 600-acre ranch up in Colorado. And it’s not a working ranch, but I want to bring veterans out, and I want to bring, you know, first responders and firefighters and cops and people that have gone through hell in their life, and bring them up there for a week and take them hunting and, you know, let them, because we’re up in the mountains, beautiful, and have like a week-long retreat of just, you know, of a healing, you know, healing retreat where you bring guys around who’ve gone through similar things that they have, that have figured out how to live with those kind of things. And that’s kind of what I want to do. I wanna help people. I want to help veterans and first responders, you know, get healthy, you know, mentally healthy, and help them out in that, in that fashion.
DG: Your brother’s a police officer, right?
RJ: He is, yeah. So he’s been a police officer for 10 years. So, you know, just talking to him about things that he’s had to deal with and see, and things that he’s had to do while he’s been a police officer, like that’s guarded to a lot of the general public. You know, there’s a lot of things that police officers do that the general doesn’t understand the toll that that takes on them. And, you know, the arguments are always, “Oh, well, they choose to do that profession.” And they do, but there’s also things that they see that the average human being shouldn’t have to see and protect. So there’s a lot of things, from first responders to military, that I wanna do to help them get mentally, get their life back from a healthy mental state.
DG: Has your brother struggled with his mental health being in that job?
RJ: Definitely, I mean, there’s things that he’s seen that, like I said, people shouldn’t see, you know? There’s people screaming and, you know, car accidents and things that he struggles with. And he’s pretty open about talking about them with certain people. With me, he’s open with talking about it. You know, everybody’s got their box that they put their emotional trauma and stuff into. So, you know, when one of his boxes gets too full, he comes to me, and I have a box put, you know, for him to put stuff in. So, but no, it’s a, it’s a, that’s what I want to do. I want, I want to help people because there’s, you know, too many veterans that commit suicide on a daily basis, and, you know, our country seems to forget about once they come home. So that’s something I want to help, you know, fight that epidemic of, you know veterans and cops and firefighters that end up taking their own life because they feel out of place and you know they went through things that they think they can’t handle anymore, and that’s their way out. So I wanna help with that. That’s something I wanna really get into.
DG: Ryan, thank you for all the time. It’s really, really a pleasure talking to you.
RJ: No problem, appreciate you.
DG: OK, I’m gonna let you guys in on a little secret here. That was the natural end of my conversation with Ryan. We’d run out of time. Also he was an NFL player at that point, I had to respect his schedule.
But on the inside, I just was not ready for this interview to be over. Not even close. You can hear that as my producers are wrapping up around me, getting ready to put our mics away, I’m still fixated, though, on Ryan’s relationship with his brother.
You str awesome. Your brother sounds amazing.
RJ: He’s a great dude.
DG: That brother story is really special.
RJ: Yeah.
DG: That bond between you guys.
RJ: Oh yeah, he’s going through it. He’s going through it right now, but he’s about to get medically retired.
DG: What, a lot of the mental health stuff?
RJ: Knees. Mental health.
DG: Oh, wow.
I have to say, I found this whole conversation with Ryan fascinating. The idea that two brothers who were so close, thought they had their paths figured out — only for the dynamics to completely change between the two of them, for their stories to almost swap… I couldn’t stop thinking about what that must be like for a family.
I was so grateful to sit down with Ryan, the brother who made it to the NFL. But talking to him left me wanting more. I wanted to hear from Seth, the brother who thought he was going to make it to the NFL… and didn’t. What does he think about this whole thing, and how his life turned out?
THEME MUSIC
SETH JENSEN: I told him, with all of your success, I was jealous of you. For years I envied you. I was mad at you. And he looked at me dumbfounded and he was like, “What are you talking about?”
DG: Next episode, you will hear my conversation with Seth Jensen. That’s coming up next week, on Sports in America.
This is Sports in America. I’m your host, David Greene. Our executive producers are Joan Isabella and Tom Grahsler.

Our senior producer is Michael Olcott. Our producer is Michaela Winberg, and our associate producer is Bibiana Correa.

Our engineer is Mike Villers. Our tile artwork was created by Bea Walling.

Sports in America is a production of WHYY in Philadelphia and is distributed by PRX.

Some of our interviews were originally created by Religion of Sports, with special thanks to Adam Schlossman. You can find Sports in America on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, the iHeart Radio app, you know, wherever you get your podcasts.

Host: David Greene
Executive Producers: Tom Grahsler and Joan Isabella
Senior Producer: Michael Olcott
Producer: Michaela Winberg
Associate Producer: Bibiana Correa
Engineer: Mike Villers
Tile Art: Bea Walling

Sports in America is a production of WHYY, distributed by PRX, and part of the NPR podcast network.