The 2022 season ended for Jacksonville Jaguars offensive lineman Ben Bartch on Oct. 9 when he suffered a season-ending knee injury. When the team began training camp more than nine months later, Bartch still wasn’t quite ready to hit the practice field.
After a stint on the physically unable to perform (PUP) list, Bartch was finally added to the active roster early last week and rejoined the team fully this Monday.
“It’s exciting,” Bartch told Mia O’Brien of 1010XL on Wednesday. “You feel like you’re free again and you can join your brothers and play football. It’s such a tease being right on the side doing bags and them taking your helmet away. Now I’m able to practice and get to work and help us get better.”
Bartch, 25, earned the starting left guard job in camp a year ago and was replaced in the lineup by Tyler Shatley after suffering his knee injury. With both Bartch and Shatley sidelined for much of camp (the latter was diagnosed with atrial fibrillation earlier in August), the starting left guard has been an unsolved mystery.
Blake Hance sits at the top of the depth chart for now, and there have been talks of Walker Little stepping in to the role after Cam Robinson returns from suspension. But Bartch may be in line to reclaim his spot in the lineup now that’s healthy again.
“[I’m] coming back, feeling stronger in some areas than pre-surgery,” Bartch told O’Brien. “Coming back with a new mindset and a little bit of reset. A different lens [I’m] looking through now.”
Bartch was a fourth-round pick in the 2020 NFL draft and is entering the final year of his rookie contract with the Jaguars.
