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The Cincinnati Bengals were all over Tampa Bay Buccaneers center Ryan Jensen in free agency before Tom Brady un-retired and Jensen landed a three-year extension worth $39 million.
A phone call from Brady is apparently what ruined the plan for the Bengals.
That’s according to King, one of the most plugged-in reporters out there, who thinks Jensen was about to head to Cincinnati before a phone call from his quarterback.
King said the following on Pro Football Talk:
“…right before Ryan Jensen was making the decisions, ‘should I stay or should I go’ … I believe that Ryan Jensen probably would have gone to Cincinnati, if that weekend Tom Brady didn’t call him and say ‘hey listen, I’m coming back, are you in?'”
That Jensen was potentially headed to the Bengals wasn’t much of a surprise. But as we wrote at the time, his sticking with the Buccaneers wasn’t the end of the world, either.
The Bengals pulled off a pivot by signing Ted Karras, who can play guard or center. They then added right guard Alex Cappa from Brady’s line and La’el Collins at right tackle.
While Jensen is one of the best line players in the league, his cost might’ve stopped the Bengals from adding two more pieces. Instead, with the help of Brady, the team got more versatile and upgraded three times, at least on paper.
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