As the Tampa Bay Buccaneers return to training camp, one player in particular is over the moon to be back.
Ryan Jensen's season ended at training camp last year after he suffered a serious knee injury during the team's second practice. He eventually returned for the NFC Wild Card game against Dallas, but it was too late to have any meaningful impact.
His absence was abundantly clear throughout what ended up being a lost season. Injuries piled up on the Bucs, but Jensen's injury had a horrific psycholigical blow that the team never really recovered from -- in addition to being one of many things that went wrong last year.
Losing Jensen was a massive blow to the Bucs, but there were layers to his injury that he detailed when far beyond what we did and didn't see on the field.
Watch: Ryan Jensen gets emotional talking about last season's injury
Jensen was asked about the impact of the injury last season and what it was like to go through it. His first thought was about telling his son about the injury and how difficult that conversation was.
"It was hard," Jensen said while fighting back tears. "Coming home that day and having to explain to him 'hey, dad got hurt today, I'm not going to be able to play football this year', and then ten minutes later he's like 'let's go play' and I'm in a cast and can't walk."
Wow.
If you weren't already willing to run through a wall for Jensen, watching him give that answer will inspire such a feeling.
Also, talk about putting life in perspective. One of the main things that derailed last season were injuries to key players, Jensen being chief among them. Hearing him give that answer about telling his son about his injury and how hard it was reminds us that these guys are humans and they take everything home with them.
Jensen is finally fully healthy entering camp, and there isn't a person in or around the Bucs who isn't happy to have him back.