“Most Underappreciated:” Jamel Dean?
May 25th, 2024
“I’ll do better, Coach.”
Leave it to the outfit that thinks Mike Evans is the league’s 20th-best receiver to label Jamel Dean — and his 29-game pickless streak — one of the most underappreciated players in the NFC South.
As a rookie third-round pick, Dean had a whopping 17 passes defensed and 2 interceptions in 2019. Last season, he was down to 4 defended passes and 0 picks.
Yeah, there’s a lot more to playing cornerback than those stats, but they do tell a story. Perhaps that’s why Dean was on the trading block? Combine Dean’s fat salary, declining production and penchant for injuries, it’s fair to wonder about Dean’s value.
But hold up, says the PFF Tribe henchman, aka Pro Football Focus. Their tribal report on The33rdTeam.com says Dean is one of the five most underappreciated in the Bucs’ division.
Cited were Dean consistently having more than 50 tackles per season and his top-level speed, strength and coverage ability.
Joe is a Dean fan. He’s been a hell of a late-third-round draft pick. But is he overpaid and fading? Probably.
Still, Dean is 27 years old and more than capable of a bounceback season as the Bucs’ true No. 1 cornerback. Joe is not prediciting that today, but Joe is confident Dean understands and will respect his new responsiblity and expectations after this winter’s Carlton Davis trade.
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May 25th, 2024 at 1:08 pm
WHEN Dean is healthy he is an excellent cover corner. No doubt, but I’m going to go with Vita Vea as most under appreciated on our D. Generally speaking, as Vea goes so does our D. He’s the engine that make our D work IMO. It is extremely noticeable when Vea isn’t in the game. Hopefully his weight loss will allow him to get up to 75% or 80% of the D snaps.
May 25th, 2024 at 1:12 pm
Deff a disappointing year last year for sure. He’s deff brittle but I like him and he helped us win a SB that defense went thru a gauntlet of QBs that postseason davis and dean held their own. The worst word in football but I hope lol he has a bounce back year. Please get this dude a pass rush too
May 25th, 2024 at 1:19 pm
Everyone commenting on this site thinks they are an NFL GM
Cmon
Dean got a second contract for a reason
Bucs didn’t pay him on a whim
Being a good open field tackler on the right side is just one strength
Go Bucs
May 25th, 2024 at 1:24 pm
If the Qb is on his Butt he has alot harder time finding the open guy for sure. Let’s get the pass rush going, with the secondary the BUCS are building they will go deep into the playoffs. GO BUCS!!!!
May 25th, 2024 at 1:31 pm
He is good, but not cap-busting good.
Plus, he had a hard time staying healthy.
May 25th, 2024 at 1:34 pm
Big ^^^edit^^^: I meant the traded Davis, not Dean.
Dean is very good and an asset, but he is spendy for the deliverables. Given the decision that one had to go for cap reasons, I’m OK with the Davis trade.
May 25th, 2024 at 1:44 pm
The best ability is availability. Dean is often injured and has been this way during his time in the NFL and in Tampa. Dude is getting paid nearly 20 mil right? It’s time for Dean to produce and do it this coming season. That’s it, just be available and play well. This is the NFL, means not for long right? Hopefully we are contenders this season, Go Bucs
May 25th, 2024 at 1:51 pm
Dean is the one of the five softest players in the Bucs’ division. Fixed it for them.
Dean is soft.
May 25th, 2024 at 1:51 pm
Cobraboy, It took me a few seconds to “get” you’re “cap-busting good” comment. I guess his cap value this year is $14.666 mil. That’s kinda steep for zero INTs. You can kinda blame the pass rush but I recall seeing several balls bounce off his belly or slip through his hands. Even a blind squirrel should have found a few of those gimme nuts. I won’t call him a liability, but he’s not exactly an asset either. Good call.
May 25th, 2024 at 1:54 pm
He needs to take it to the next lvl. This year Can we not have these guys playing 10 yards off zone on 3rd down please?
May 25th, 2024 at 2:12 pm
Rookies get a lot of stats because QBs pick on them. Shutdown corners do not because QBs avoid them.
May 25th, 2024 at 2:30 pm
^^^
Yahtzee
May 25th, 2024 at 3:03 pm
Last year, Bowles used the Charmin zone because Neal was so bad. With Whitehead back, will Bowles use more man? I think that would fit Dean better. Certainly Dean is not a great value with his injury history.
May 25th, 2024 at 3:09 pm
When some fans would rather have lawn chairs in coverage as opposed to j. dean like this fan, it will forever remain a mystery why this team rewarded him for such bad play, with such a lucrative contract?
You see teammates see this and can conclude on this team, bad play can get one rewarded richly.
When extrapolated one must wonder just who or whom makes them thar decisions?
I never thought little bo peep could be employed in the front office…. Just sayin.
May 25th, 2024 at 3:54 pm
Dean is good, he is not a Lattimore or Sauce but he is a solid player that can be a building block for an even better secondary. His salary may look inflated today but wait another year for the cap to increase and it’ll look like a good deal in 2025. If we can hit in the draft or secure one via trade or FA Bowles might be able to put another top 5 defense together and then we were looking like a legit contender. I have been a Bowles hater since we signed him as head coach and in Brady’s last year I really soured on him, but he proved to me last year that he can put a good team together and the guys all seem to love him. Even in a down year with Brady and a up and down season he never lost the respect of his troops, which is why as a joke of a division winner we made some noise in the NFC playoffs last year and we’re a couple plays away from meeting SF in the championship.
May 25th, 2024 at 4:22 pm
And the decline of of “sportswriters in the 21st century” continues.
Dean has always perfered the tank to the field.
Last year, Dean and is buddy Davis read the preseason predictions, decided it was gonna be a wasted year, and both layed down after game 2. Didnt get engaged until around week 10.
Jason Licht couldnt wait to ship Davis out. I think at the end of this season, when his contract will allow- Licht will send Dean outta town on a rail
The writer of that post must have pulled a name out of a hat. Horribly inaccurate.
May 25th, 2024 at 4:47 pm
Dean is 26th on PFF’s top 32 CBs. 49ers have 3 in the top21 [Ward 9, Oliver 18, Lenoir 21]…a good pass rush makes for good corners. Having to mop up for devin, jts, & Shaq with 50 tackles/yr promotes injury.
Vea misses more time in the lineup catching air on the sideline (plus, injury). In 2023, Dean had 46 solo tackles to our best DL, Vea’s 28, in 2 less games played. I wouldn’t call that soft. Dean’s only knock, imo, stone hands.
May 25th, 2024 at 5:20 pm
Most underappreciated? I’d say more like most UNDERACHIEVED. Between him Carlton & Tryon.
May 25th, 2024 at 6:18 pm
Larrd coming with the heat…
Dean has some stiffness changing directions & carries brick ass hands. But he fits Bowles system like a glove. (When healthy)
May 25th, 2024 at 6:32 pm
I think the Lions could have picked either Dean or Carlton and chose Carlton over Dean!!!
May 25th, 2024 at 7:07 pm
For me it’s the injuries, I feel like when he is healthy he is a solid player.
May 25th, 2024 at 7:33 pm
Show me
May 25th, 2024 at 7:39 pm
I like Dean, but I wish he would get on the intersection band wagon. He batted down some of his chances last season. He’s the number one guy right now so I hope he steps up a little more..
May 25th, 2024 at 7:39 pm
The decline of some defensive players, and the failure to develop of others, is an indictment of a coich wearing two hats.
May 25th, 2024 at 9:04 pm
If Dean has a repeat year, he gone…
Time to step up Jamal!!
Let’s go Bucs
May 25th, 2024 at 9:16 pm
Carlton Davis hangs like Snoop Dogg in a cloud of smoke. Jamel Dean is more thoughtful and cerebral and is likely a future coach.
Both are good but Carlton Davis has peaked while Jamel Dean can still get better as he gets more experience.
May 25th, 2024 at 9:19 pm
Compare Dean to Lattimore averages for a second …
o Dean: 5 years – 70 games – 14 games/season – 1.4 INTs/ season – 9 PDs/season – 51 tackles/season – 56.3% completion percentage allowed – 2.6 TD/season allowed.
o Lattimore: 7 years – 90 games – 13 games/season – 2.1 INTs/season – 12.3 PDs/season – 53.5 tackles/season – 56.8% completion percentage allowed – 3.5 TD/season allowed
Dean’s average salary is $13.0 mil/year (4-year contract). Lattimore’s average salary is $19.5 mil/year (5-year contract).
Jamel’s been with us for 5 years now.. In those first 4 years he made a TOTAL of $3,558,852 as our starting outside corner. And then last year he re-signed for $13 mil per year and everyone was elated because his Market Value was considered to be much higher than that.
I’d say that his numbers compare favorably to Marshon Lattimore’s. Not only that, but Jamel is getting paid considerably less. But hey, for those of you who don’t like him, bitch on.
May 25th, 2024 at 9:26 pm
Decent player that doesn’t play enough snaps or produce enough when on the field to justify his salary. This is a bottom line game, and more often than not he’s operating in the red.
May 25th, 2024 at 9:47 pm
Yahtzee
Lol!
May 25th, 2024 at 11:24 pm
Manchester United won the FA Cup…I have no idea what that means…but it’s onthe CNN website.
May 26th, 2024 at 12:01 am
Stupid comment by Dave Pear in 3,2,1……
Oh wait, It already happened my bad.
May 26th, 2024 at 1:30 am
BillyBuffo, tell Fuzzy Mae to get you another Busch Light and get back to your 3rd grade reader.
May 26th, 2024 at 3:34 am
I think because of our lack of pass rushers he has been asked to do some things that do not play to his strengths. Adding to that is the talent around him has been less than stellar. Having Diva running around out of position did not help anyone. OLBs in front of him looked like they dropped in to coverage in slow motion and were mostly just bodies trying to get in the way. Add to that Toddds stuborn 10 yards off zone calls and there you have it.
Go Bucs!
May 26th, 2024 at 9:09 am
So obvious – the playoff loss to Detroit turned when Dean went down and McCollum replaced him. Goff targeted Zyon the rest of the way and that was the game. When healthy Dean is a good CB. Same with Davis. With no pass rush for the past two seasons it’s easy to bash those guys. I wasn’t a fan of trading Davis, but hey, your best ability is your availability, right. But as far as talent goes we took a step back.
And like everyone else, I hate the 10 yards cushion zone, but again NO PASS RUSH. So give up yards between the 20’s and then lock ‘em down in the red zone. That was the game plan. And it was based on the talent and the roster. We developed guys over the course of the season, won the division and had a nice playoff run.
May 26th, 2024 at 9:24 am
My 2 cents is the bucs get great production from YaYa Chancey and Braswel…Dean will play at a pro bowl level….put it on the board… championship
May 26th, 2024 at 11:05 am
Attn league: blue light Memorial Day special. Lawn chair masquerading as db real cheep. Make offer please, as all offers considered. Regards, the brass.🙃
May 26th, 2024 at 12:37 pm
I’m just going to let the cat out the bag…. clipboards for all the traskateers for Christmas
May 27th, 2024 at 9:24 am
My dad taught me anything said before the word but is BS. With the way this team has reacted to having Whitehead back and the hype on Zion, I am thinking this secondary finally looks solid this season.
May 27th, 2024 at 11:38 am
The man is soft as Twinky filling, plays scared and is as solid as peanut brittle……..
What’s there to under appreciate????