NFC South

Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady will be missing one of his key protectors after center Ryan Jensen was carted off the field with a left knee injury during Thursday's practice.

While Brady is confident in second-year center Robert Hainsey, he admitted that the team is feeling the effects of Jensen's absence.

"He’s worked really hard," Brady said of Hainsey, per Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times. "Obviously, everyone is heartbroken with what happened to Ryan, so it will take a little time. But [Hainsey] has got to step into the job and do a great job."

Tampa Bay head coach Todd Bowles told reporters last week that Jensen is expected to miss "months" with the unspecified injury. The 10-year veteran is undergoing further evaluation on Monday to determine a timetable for his recovery.

A third-round pick out of Notre Dame last year, Hainsey appeared in nine games as a rookie. It will be difficult to replace Jensen, who was selected to the Pro Bowl in 2021, but Brady believes Hainsey is capable of proving himself.

"He worked hard last year [and] really gained the trust of a lot of people. He's got to go earn it," Brady said. "Like all of us, it's not what you did in the offseason, it's how good of a football player are you? It's to be determined for all of us."

Brady, who turns 45 on Wednesday, is back for a 23rd season as he hopes to lead Tampa Bay to a second Super Bowl in three years. The Bucs added a couple veteran weapons for Brady in wideout Julio Jones and tight end Kyle Rudolph. However, Jensen's injury has caused Brady to temper expectations because he knows things can change prior to the Sept. 11 season opener against the Dallas Cowboys.

"Nobody knows what the team is going to look like," Brady said. "You think you have a center, and then he gets injured. The team is different in one day. So it’s long time between now and the first game."

Carolina Panthers wide receiver Robbie Anderson revealed Friday that he's changing the spelling of his first name from Robby to Robbie, per ESPN's Adam Schefter.

"I kinda like how it looks. It's better on paper with the 'ie' on the end," Anderson said. "That's what it was when I wore No. 3, too."

Anderson changed his number from No. 11 to No. 3 in May.

The 29-year-old has spent the last two seasons in Carolina after playing for the New York Jets for the first four years of his career.

In 33 games across two seasons with the Panthers, he has caught 148 passes for 1,615 yards and eight touchdowns. However, he had a rough 2021 campaign, catching just 53 passes for 519 yards and five touchdowns on 110 targets in 17 games.

With the new spelling of his first name, perhaps Anderson can make a fresh start in 2022. He will still be a significant part of Carolina's passing offense alongside DJ Moore and Terrace Marshall Jr.

Carolina Panthers head coach Matt Rhule told reporters on Thursday that veteran quarterbacks Baker Mayfield and Sam Darnold would be splitting practice reps half-and-half "for the immediate future."

The Panthers traded for Mayfield this offseason after Darnold's disappointing 2021 campaign.

Rhule has maintained throughout July that, despite Mayfield's highly publicized acquisition this offseason, the quarterback position was still up for grabs.

"I want us to be a competitive team," he told reporters Wednesday. "I talk about competition all the time, meaning you gotta fight for what you want. Again, my job is not to pick the starting quarterback. I have to make that decision. It’s the guys' play. Russell Wilson, ya know, walked into a situation in Seattle with Matt Flynn, who had just had a guaranteed contract and Charlie Whitehurst, they just traded for, and he won the job. So I want competition. The best player will play."

Given that Mayfield has had the better career to this point after being the top overall selection in the 2018 NFL draft—Darnold was the No. 3 pick that year—he's expected to ultimately emerge as the frontrunner.

• Mayfield: 14,125 passing yards, 92 touchdowns, 56 interceptions, 61.6 completion percentage, 30-30 record, one playoff berth
• Darnold:, 10,624 passing yards, 54 touchdowns, 52 interceptions, 59.8 completion percentage, 17-33 record, zero playoff berths

Additionally, Darnold had his shot at the QB1 role last year and struggled immensely, throwing for 2,527 yards, nine touchdowns and 13 interceptions while completing 59.9 percent of his passes. Teams generally don't trade for a quarterback if they are happy with their in-house options.

But however it plays out, Darnold told reporters on Tuesday that the competition isn't affecting the relationship between the quarterbacks.

"When things start rolling in training camp, it's just going to be fun to be able to compete and have fun with it," he said. "At the end of the day, this is a business and we both take our craft and what we do very seriously. So it's going to be serious when that time comes to compete, but off the field and all of that stuff, me and Baker are really cool."

Mayfield added that being able to collaborate and work with Darnold was a plus.

"It's unique because we’re all pretty young. Sam and I are the oldest ones in the room and we're only going into Year 5," he told reporters Wednesday. "So we're able to compete and kind of bounce ideas off of each other. Just the different systems that we've been in. Obviously, they're learning this one for the first time, too. So compare it, contrast and just come up with ideas to see the most efficient way to run things and get this team winning."

Tampa Bay Buccaneers center Ryan Jensen is feared to have a serious knee injury after being carted off the field during Thursday's training camp practice, according to NFL Network's Ian Rapoport and Mike Garafolo.

Rapoport reported Friday morning that the fear is Jensen suffered a season-ending knee injury, although that has yet to be confirmed.

While the #Bucs await final word, the fear is Pro Bowl center Ryan Jensen has suffered a season-ending knee injury, sources say. A likely frustrating end to his 2022.

Tampa’s options include internal — Robert Hainsey — or external — JC Tretter, Matt Paradis, Billy Price, etc.

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) July 29, 2022

A source told Adam Schefter of ESPN that it was "not looking good."

Bucs head coach Todd Bowles told reporters Friday morning that Jensen is expected to miss months of action, but the team is still waiting on the MRI results to determine the extent of the injury.

Bowles previously said Thursday that the severity of the injury wasn't immediately known.

Bucs center Ryan Jensen just went down. A golf cart came out to get him and all teammates huddled around him. He’s heading to the training room.

— JennaLaineESPN (@JennaLaineESPN) July 28, 2022

Jensen joined Tampa Bay in 2018 after starting his NFL career as a member of the Baltimore Ravens, who selected him in the sixth round of the 2013 draft.

The 31-year-old Colorado native has started all 33 regular-season games at center since legendary quarterback Tom Brady joined the franchise ahead of the 2020 campaign. He hasn't missed a start since 2017.

In March, Jensen said he was leaning toward re-signing with the Buccaneers as a free agent, and a phone call from Brady, who returned after brief retirement this offseason, sealed the deal.

"It was the icing on the cake at the end of a great day," Jensen told reporters. "At that point I was pretty much already committed to coming back to Tampa. And obviously, that’s the sugar on top."

The 6'4", 319-pound lineman signed a three-year, $39 million contract with the Bucs.

It's been a decorated couple of years for Jensen since Brady's arrival, as he helped anchor the Tampa Bay line during the team's run to the Super Bowl LV title and then earned his first career Pro Bowl selection in 2021.

Robert Hainsey would be in line to fill the void if Jensen is sidelined. The 2021 third-round pick out of Notre Dame played just 31 offensive snaps as a rookie, per Pro Football Reference.

The Buccaneers start the preseason Aug. 13 against the Miami Dolphins and kick off the regular season Sept. 11 when they visit the Dallas Cowboys in a marquee NFC showdown.

Back in the long-ago days of 2019, New Orleans Saints wide receiver Michael Thomas had one of the best seasons any wide receiver in NFL history ever has. That year, the 29-year-old led the league in both catches (149) and receiving yards (1,725). His 149 receptions were the most ever in a single season. Thomas won Offensive Player of the Year honors and was the No. 1 wideout in fantasy by over 100 PPR points. The only non-quarterback who had more points that year was Carolina Panthers running back Christian McCaffrey.

Since that massive season, however, Thomas' career has followed the same disappointing trajectory as McCaffrey's. In 2020, Thomas caught just 40 passes for 438 yards over seven games in an injury-shortened season. After surgery in the summer of 2021 to repair the same ankle that hampered him the year before, Thomas missed all of last season.

Now, like McCaffrey, Thomas is trying to get his career back on track. But while fantasy managers appear willing to give McCaffrey the benefit of the doubt, Thomas' return is being met with a healthy dose of skepticism. Per the Average Draft Position Data at Fantasy Pros, Thomas is being drafted on average as a lower-end fantasy WR3 at the back end of Round 6.

Is that all Thomas is now? A marginal fantasy starter and mid-round pick whose best days are behind him? Or can Thomas turn back the clock in 2022, recapture past glories and serve as this year's Cooper Kupp—a massive value that leads fantasy managers to championships?

For the first time in a long time, there was tangible good news on the Thomas front—after opening training camp on the PUP list, Thomas was on the practice field Wednesday.

Thomas also spoke to reporters for the first time since the 2020 season, stating that it felt great to finally be back on the field.

Back 💪@Cantguardmike #Saints pic.twitter.com/XVEj15p7M7

— New Orleans Saints (@Saints) July 27, 2022

"Man, I'm kind of lost for words," said Thomas. "I didn't want to come up here and get emotional or anything. But it was a blessing to be back out there with the guys."

Saints head coach Dennis Allen was also quite pleased to see Thomas out there, although his optimism was tempered.

"I thought he looked good," Allen said. "I think we've still gotta be smart with him as we go throughout training camp. But I thought it was a good start, having him out there on the first day. I was excited about seeing No. 13 walk out on the field. Listen, Mike Thomas wants to be out here. He wants to help this team win games. And that's his whole mindset and his whole purpose. And he's extremely driven to do that. And I think this was a good step in the right direction."

Thomas also attempted to put to rest any remaining drama over the curious timing of his ankle surgery last year.

"We can put (the 2021 surgery timetable) to rest right now. It's pretty much like when you go to a doctor, you get an opinion. You go to two doctors, one person has an opinion, another person has an opinion. You have the right to pick an opinion. So if one of the opinions is you can rehab your ankle and it should be good by camp, and I've never had surgery, then I'm gonna stick with that one. If that one doesn't work, then I'm gonna go with the second one. And that's pretty much how it worked. I don't write the opinion, I just have to pick one."

Thomas said that he's "very confident" that he will be as good as ever in 2022. And that statement may well be the most important of all for fantasy managers.

It's not like Thomas' record-setting 2019 season was the only time he's posted huge numbers. In 2018, Thomas was first in the league in receptions (125), sixth in receiving yards (1,405), 10th in touchdowns (nine) and sixth in PPR fantasy points. That year, Thomas' catch percentage was a ridiculous 85 percent.

The year before that, Thomas tallied 105 catches for 1,245 yards and five scores—numbers that once again ranked him sixth in PPR points among receivers. As a rookie in 2016, Thomas posted a 92/1,137/9 line that ranked seventh in PPR points at the position.

That's four straight 1,000-yard seasons. Four straight 90-catch seasons. And four straight years as a top-10 fantasy option. Four straight seasons from 2017-2020, Thomas had an ADP inside the top 20 overall at Fantasy Football Calculator. In 2020, he was the fifth overall pick on average.

For several years, Thomas was equal parts prolific and consistent. The gold standard among fantasy wideouts. And if he really is 100 percent (or close to it), then his absolute fantasy ceiling is back among the elite options at the position.

However, there are factors working against Thomas hitting that ceiling that go beyond his ankle. For starters, all that damage that Thomas did was with Drew Brees throwing him the ball. Jameis Winston will be leading the offense in 2022, and he's working his way back from an ACL tear of his own.

The good news in that regard is that Winston is also back on the practice field, and he told reporters that his recovery is progressing well.

"I would say I got more explosive (since minicamp)," he said. "I was good, I was ready to go right then. But it's a progression. The healing process really never stops. I feel stronger right now, but with practice increasing, I know I've got to harp on a couple of things and continue to build."

Winston has shown that he can post big numbers—back in 2019 with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Winston led the NFL with 5,109 passing yards. But while Winston did a much better job taking care of the football and avoiding turnovers in his seven starts for the Saints in 2021, his 167.1 passing yards per game was easily a career-low.

Part of that is attributable to a lack in receiving talent in New Orleans, and the Saints will all but certainly improve offensively through the air after ranking dead last in that regard last season. But this probably won't be an especially high-volume passing offense unless the season starts to get away from them and they are forced to play catch-up with regularity.

There's also something in New Orleans this year that wasn't for a big chunk of Thomas' statistical rampage—a viable secondary receiver. From 2016 to 2109, there was only one other wideout on the Saints' roster who topped 70 targets in a season—Brandin Cooks, with 117 in 2016. The Saints didn't spend a first-round pick on Ohio State's Chris Olave so he could watch games unfold, and given the youngster's talent level he's going to be a significant part of the Saints 'passing-game plans.

Add those factors to the fact that Thomas hasn't scored a regular-season touchdown since Dec. 22, 2019, and while a top-12 fantasy season might be possible, it isn't probable. Expecting one certainly isn't reasonable after his long layoff.

It didn't take long into training camp for Marcus Mariota to establish himself as the starting quarterback of the Atlanta Falcons.

"Obviously, we've got a plan for each of them. Marcus is the starter," quarterbacks coach Charles London said when discussing Mariota and rookie Desmond Ridder after the initial practice of training camp on Wednesday, per Josh Kendall of The Athletic. "That’s how we're going into this thing."

London continued, saying "I expect those guys to compete. Right now, Marcus is the starter, and he's doing a great job."

Mariota signed a two-year, $18.75 million deal with the Falcons this offseason and immediately became the presumed starter since they also traded Matt Ryan to the Indianapolis Colts.

However, it was fair to wonder if his starting job was in jeopardy when the NFC South team selected Cincinnati's Ridder in the third round of the 2022 NFL draft.

Ridder helped the Bearcats become the first Group of Five conference team to reach the College Football Playoff this past season when he completed 64.9 percent of his passes for 3,334 yards, 30 touchdowns and eight interceptions while adding 355 yards and six scores on the ground.

While Ridder's ceiling is certainly high and he may ultimately get an opportunity down the road, he can't match Mariota's experience at this point.

The Oregon product first became a household name when he won the Heisman Trophy and led the Ducks to the CFP national championship game. The Tennessee Titans then selected him with the No. 2 overall pick of the 2015 NFL draft and made him a starter during his rookie season.

Mariota started 61 games for the Titans during the next five seasons and even guided the team to a playoff win over the Kansas City Chiefs during the 2017 campaign. He threw for more than 3,000 yards in back-to-back seasons in 2016 and 2017.

However, he was just a backup with the Las Vegas Raiders the past two years and has not started a game since losing his starting job to Ryan Tannehill in 2019.

At his best, Mariota can make plays with both his legs and his arm, and he will surely rely on tight end Kyle Pitts and rookie wide receiver Drake London while looking to lead the Falcons to a quick start this season.

If that quick start never comes, Ridder will be waiting in the wings.

Seven-time Pro Bowler Julio Jones is a member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and he will join forces with quarterback Tom Brady and an uber-talented offense that includes fellow wideouts Mike Evans and Chris Godwin.

At training camp Wednesday, Jones spoke with reporters (h/t ESPN's Jenna Laine) about joining an ex-NFC South rival in the Bucs after playing for the Atlanta Falcons from 2011-20:

"It's just a surreal moment. It's amazing. I'm ready to go, though. At the end of the day, it's all about accountability. I have to be accountable for him, the team, everybody, right? With all that said and done, I've still got to come to work. I still have to put the work in.

"You can say, 'Oh yeah, Julio's with the Bucs, we got Mike [Evans], we got Tom,' but we've all got to put the work in. Nobody's going to give us anything. So we've just got to come out here and work each and every day. That's all it's about."

The union with Brady also conjures up memories of Super Bowl LI, when Brady's New England Patriots overcame a 28-3 deficit to defeat Jones' Falcons 34-28 in overtime.

"Why we got to bring up old stuff? He did it. He did it. He did it," Jones joked.

The Bucs have lost tight end Rob Gronkowski to retirement, but they added a pair of ex-Falcons in Jones and Russell Gage. Tampa Bay arguably has the deepest wide receiver core in football, and that can only help as the Super Bowl LV champion looks for a return trip to the big game.

Injuries curtailed Jones' last two seasons. In 2021, he caught 31 passes for 434 yards and one touchdown in 10 games. The year prior, he caught 51 passes for 771 and three scores in nine games.

He should be in line for a more productive season, especially with the team sporting such a talented offense.

As Jones said, though, he and the Bucs have to put the work in, and that starts now with training camp underway. Tampa Bay will open the regular season Sept. 11 at the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday Night Football.

Leonard Fournette is back in shape after putting on some pounds during the offseason.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back weighed 245 pounds when he reported to training camp Tuesday, per Doug Kyed of Pro Football Focus.

Fournette made light of concerns about his weight over the weekend.

Camp in 2 days love y’all I’m off pic.twitter.com/lTEZgv4ql5

— 7⃣ Leonard Fournette (@_fournette) July 24, 2022

The 27-year-old weighed "damn near 260" when he reported to mandatory minicamp in June, according to Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times, and Bucs coaches "were not happy."

Jordan Bush, Fournette's trainer, said the running back had put on weight. However, he said the story was "blown out of proportion" and that Fournette would be ready for the season.

"Honestly, he did return to us a little bit bigger than we wanted," Bush told The Athletic's Greg Auman. "He was also in the sauna every day, getting extra cardio every single day."

Fournette has been instrumental in the Buccaneers' success over the last two seasons, and he'll remain with Tampa Bay through 2024 after agreeing to a three-year, $21 million deal in March.

The LSU product had a solid 2021 campaign, rushing for 812 yards and eight touchdowns in 14 games. He also caught 69 passes for 454 yards and two touchdowns.

Fournette will lead a running back group that includes Rachaad White, Ke'Shawn Vaughn, Giovani Bernard and Kenjon Barner. He is no longer competing for the team's top role after Ronald Jones signed with the Kansas City Chiefs this offseason.

The Bucs open to the 2022 campaign against the Dallas Cowboys on Sept. 11.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are loading up for what could be one of Tom Brady's final seasons with the franchise, and they landed the quarterback a significant target Tuesday by signing Julio Jones to a one-year deal, per ESPN's Adam Schefter.

Jones, a seven-time Pro Bowler and two-time All-Pro, is now expected to be one of Brady's top targets in 2022 alongside Mike Evans and Chris Godwin. Following the loss of Rob Gronkowski, who announced his retirement this summer, adding Jones is exactly the receiving weapon the Bucs needed.

Jones is now being touted by NFL fans as the missing piece to Brady and Tampa Bay winning another Super Bowl, and the rest of the league should be scared.

@juliojones_11 to the Bucs with @TomBrady. His hamstrings are going to be the only thing standing in the way of them winning the Super Bowl.

— Daniel O’Donovan (@DOD_Cast) July 26, 2022

Julio Jones to Tom Brady 😂😂😂

— CONTENT (@a1shaunn) July 26, 2022

https://twitter.com/neorecusant/status/1552030844621099008

Y’all are gonna be reminded who Julio Jones is this year. Tampa looking scary 👀

— Prabhat Seelamsetti (@PrabSeelamsetti) July 26, 2022

Julio Jones said he gettin a ring one way or another I ain't even mad at it

— CM Monk ❌ (@MrDTroy) July 26, 2022

We just got Julio Jones omg 😭😭😭🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

— CwayBway 💰 (@UptownBroadway_) July 26, 2022

Julio Jones in Tampa Bay?!

Give them the Lombardi Trophy already. 😅

Slaughter.

— Ladies Luh' Coo' J (@JvleZRvleZ) July 26, 2022

The rest of the league seeing Brady add Julio to his WR corps pic.twitter.com/1D8C6mGK88

— DraftKings (@DraftKings) July 26, 2022

https://twitter.com/GRoddy3x/status/1552031736216928257

https://twitter.com/TScottACPS/status/1552030181266685952

Picture it 🔮

March 2023…

Julio Jones & Tom Brady sit down for some avocado tequila after another #GoBucs boat parade, reminiscing about playing against each other in a Super Bowl & now winning a ring on the same squad in Champa Bay pic.twitter.com/W0Yhs6WF6f

— 𝗭𝗮𝗰 𝗕𝗹𝗼𝗯𝗻𝗲𝗿🎙 (@ZacOnTheMic) July 26, 2022

Jones has dealt with injuries over the last two seasons, but when fully healthy, he's one of the best receivers in the NFL. During the 2019 season, he caught 99 passes for 1,394 yards and six touchdowns in 15 games.

Brady now has two targets who have recorded at least 1,000 receiving yards in seven seasons—Jones and Evans—in addition to Godwin, who has posted two 1,000-plus receiving seasons, and Russell Gage, who has recorded back-to-back seasons with at least 700 receiving yards.

Beyond Jones, Evans, Godwin and Gage, Brady can also turn to Tyler Johnson, Cyril Grayson Jr., Scotty Miller, Jaelon Darden and Breshad Perriman out wide. He also has Cameron Brate and Kyle Rudolph at tight end and Leonard Fournette and Rachaad White at running back.

Talk about dangerous.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are signing veteran wideout Julio Jones to a one-year deal, per ESPN's Adam Schefter, giving quarterback Tom Brady yet another weapon in the passing game.

Here's a look at the team's updated offensive depth chart with the potential addition of Jones:

---

QB: Brady, Blaine Gabbert, Kyle Trask

RB: Leonard Fournette, Rachaad White, Ke'Shawn Vaughn, Giovani Bernard

WR1: Mike Evans

WR2: Chris Godwin

SWR: Russell Gage

WR4: Jones, Scotty Miller, Tyler Johnson

TE: Cameron Brate, Kyle Rudolph

LT: Donovan Smith, Fred Johnson

LG: Aaron Stinnie, Luke Goedeke, Sadarius Hutcherson

C: Ryan Jensen, Robert Hainsey

RG: Shaq Mason, Nick Leverett

RT: Tristan Wirfs, Josh Wells

---

Per Schefter, the Bucs beat out interest from the Green Bay Packers to sign Jones. The question for the Bucs, of course, is what Jones' role will be going forward.

Evans and Godwin are locked into place as the team's top two options at receiver, with Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times reporting on Tuesday that Godwin was cleared for training camp after having surgery for a torn ACL in January.

Plus, the team signed Gage this offseason, ostensibly to handle slot-receiver duties.

"I think he is the perfect slot for our system, being at that receiver position," Bucs defensive back Antoine Winfield Jr. told reporters in May. "Playing against him, he's tough in there, so I think we're going to utilize him just fine in that area. He's smart, he has good routes, he is shifty—I like his game a lot."

So while Jones—a seven-time Pro Bowler and two-time first-team All-Pro—is a flashy signing for Tampa, there's a very good chance he's the team's fourth wideout.

Bucs adding Julio Jones feels a lot like adding Antonio Brown two years ago -- not nearly the drama, but a player with a prolific career. He's missed seven games in each of the last two seasons, but if you get anything close to 2019 Julio, it's the best WR corps in the NFL.

— Greg Auman (@gregauman) July 26, 2022

Outside of the team's current options at the position, Jones is 33 years old and has missed 14 total games the past two years due to injuries. He didn't make a major mark with the Tennessee Titans last year, catching 31 passes for 434 yards and a score.

Across 10 games, that averaged out to about 3.1 catches for 43.4 yards and 0.1 touchdowns per contest. Not great, especially considering his career averages per game are six catches, 91.9 receiving yards and 0.4 scores.

But Jones doesn't need to be the top option in Tampa. He won't be close to that. As third or fourth receivers go, he's a very nice addition.