Stathead: “Prioritize” Re-Signing Jamel Dean
February 11th, 2026
Find a quality replacement first.
Joe has seen enough of Bucs coach Todd Bowles’ defense over the years to know you don’t let a decent corner walk out the door.
Because of his reworked deal last year, Jamel Dean is now a pending free agent. And looking at the current Bucs roster, Joe doesn’t like the options to replace Dean.
Dean bet on himself last year and maybe had the best year since Bowles took over. NFL data scientist Sam Hoppen doesn’t think it’s so smart to let Dean escape One Buc Palace.
One guy I think the Bucs should prioritize re-signing is Jamel Dean, who is coming off of a career-best year in terms of PFF grade, ranking 4th among all cornerbacks. He was one of the bright spots of Tampa Bay’s defense this year and should be rewarded for continued high-level play.
Joe knows sticking up for Dean isn’t popular. Well, the alternative for Dean is what? Dean has been (rightly) ridiculed for being injury-prone. So you are going to replace Dean with a guy like Benjamin Morrison, who made Dean look like a rock of stability?
Did Zyon McCollum play like a guy last year who could take over as the veteran leader in the cornerbacks room? Now if you want to put Jacob Parrish at full-time corner to replace Dean, Joe’s all for that. Joe thinks Parrish is going to be a fine corner for years to come.
Trick is, Joe’s not sure Bowles wants to move on from Parrish as a nickel corner.
Joe just doesn’t believe in letting good corners walk out the door. And given the fact Bowles’ pass defense since he came to Tampa Bay in 2019 has been poor all but one year, imagine having a subpar corner take over for Dean on this pass defense? Yikes.
February 11th, 2026 at 4:17 am
That bridge was doused in gasoline and Bowles lit the match – last 2 yrs this franchise has operated with head firmly up keaster
Btw psa someone please remind Jason NOW is the time for offseason surgeries (ahem Tristan…) not a cpl weeks into training camp -thanks
February 11th, 2026 at 4:49 am
It’s hard to argue against the season Jamel had this year.
He bet on himself and won.
It’s a shame it had to come down to a restructured contract with free agency, in order to make it happen, but he had a real good season.
The question/concern we all have is will he be able to stay on the field? I’m sure other teams are looking at him and thinking the same thing.
The stat-head has a good point when you look at the numbers Jamel put up last year, as does Joe, with his concern about who we replace him with.
In the past, I’ve called for us to let him go. Just cut him.
I’d be ok with another performance/incentive type of deal for a year or two. But, I’d be against any sort of guaranteed “big time” money contract regardless of performance. He just seems to be a little too injury-prone for me to be comfortable with that.
February 11th, 2026 at 5:33 am
Could it be that it’s just a bad system? Did any corners look good in Lovie’s system? Mike Smith? I have as much faith in Bowles as I did those guys.
February 11th, 2026 at 5:38 am
LOL …The lack of INTs 2 in Seven seasons? Passes defensed seems fine. Being able and willing to tackle is not a stat but we have one, maybe two DBs who will stick their helmet on someone when it counts. Im talking DBs only here BTW. Dean seems to limp off the field every time he hits someone.
Go Bucs!
February 11th, 2026 at 5:53 am
I don’t understand why some folks seems to think Dean is some all pro ball out consistent type player. He’s mediocre at best. Fragile, injury prone, very passive tackler for his size, n often miss tackles. Let’s be done with him. Last season was a fluke, he lucked out on the ints. One int was picked because of pressure from the safety n the other two were pretty much thrown right to him, any average joe blow could’ve made the same ints. On the so called pass breakups, he was beat for tds but the receiver just dropped the ball n Dean gets credit for pass break up. Dean is no Revis or Prime. Let’s let him walk, n take our chances on Ben Morris. Move Parrish on the other side of Morris as outside corner n roll with those two as starters. We need aggressive good tackling at corner. Let’s get back to violent football. First three picks should be de n linebacker then go corner 4th n pick up tightend in free agency. Dean must go!!
February 11th, 2026 at 6:03 am
One of a few more nails in the coffin for Licht if we re-sign Dean. This team likes using analytics…the analytics say he cannot stay healthy and is not worth the money. Let someone else deal with the almost really good CB.
Not sure it was ever a consideration, but Dean should have been jettison before the trade deadline last season. His stock was hot, and we had enough depth at CB, albeit not as good as Dean…and we knew Dean would eventually get hurt. I think we overestimate how good Licht truly is at wheeling and dealing. The last significant trades were landing guys like JPP and Gronk and given their situation at that time, it wasn’t exactly groundbreaking moves.
February 11th, 2026 at 6:17 am
“…given the fact Bowles’ pass defense since he came to Tampa Bay in 2019 has been poor all but one year…”
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Joe, would that “one year” have been when we had JPP and Shaq had 19 sacks?
Having a pass rush always makes the DBs look better. Having JTS, Braswell, Reddick, et al, makes the DBs look bad.
Go get us some friggin pass rushers JL.
February 11th, 2026 at 6:18 am
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention we also had Such that “one year”
February 11th, 2026 at 6:30 am
If I’m Jamaal I tell this team to go take a hike. The Bucs bet on the Bucs and Dean bet on himself by taking the pay cut. Once again this organization can’t do anything right. Seriously they should do the George Costanza method of making decisions. Whatever they think they should do just do the opposite.
February 11th, 2026 at 6:38 am
Joe … ‘Because of his reworked deal last year, Jamel Dean is now a free agent. And looking at the current Bucs roster, Joe doesn’t currently like the options to replace Dean.’
I don’t like the current options for replacing Jamel Dean either Joe. Right now the Bucs only have 5 CBs under contract: Zyon McCollum, Benjamin Morrison, Jacob Parrish, Josh Hayes & Damarion Williams. Neither Hayes nor Williams are anyplace close to being starter-capable, and I seriously doubt either will be on our 2026 roster. We NEED at least 5 (preferably 6) CBs for the season, so we’re 2-3 short.
Dean was definitely our best-performing CB last season:
o Dean (6’1″ – 206 lbs – 4.30 speed – 41″ vertical): 14 games- 660 def snaps (66.0%) – 59 targets – 29 completions (49.2%) – 2 TDs – 9 PD – 3 INT – 1 sack – 1 TFL – 2 QB Hit – 48 tackles (38 solo) – 2.1% Missed Tackle Rate (1 Missed)
o McCollum (6’2″ – 199 lbs – 4.33 speed – 39.5″ vertical): 13 games- 766 def snaps (76.6%) – 82 targets – 49 completions (59.8%) – 6 TDs – 6 PD – 1 INT – 0 sack – 1 TFL – 0 QB Hit – 65 tackles (45 solo) – 9.7% Missed Tackle Rate (7 Missed)
o Morrison (6’0″ – 190 lbs – 4.39 speed – unknown vertical): 10 games- 359 def snaps (35.9%) – 41 targets – 24 completions (58.5%) – 3 TDs – 4 PD – 0 INT – 0 sack – 2 TFL – 0 QB Hit – 26 tackles (19 solo) – 18.8% Missed Tackle Rate (6 Missed)
o Parrish (5’10” – 198 lbs – 4.35 speed – 37.5″ vertical): 17 games- 746 def snaps (74.6%) – 77 targets – 55 completions (71.4%) – 2 TDs – 7 PD – 2 INT – 2 sack – 7 TFL – 3 QB Hit – 76 tackles (50 solo) – 9.5% Missed Tackle Rate (8 Missed)
All 4 CBs have good speed, but the only lock-down corner of the 4 is Jamel Dean. And contrary to what so many seem to comment, he’s also the best tackler of the group. Since we NEED to sign 2-3 corners, and we’ve got other high-draft-pick needs that are even greater than CB, I’d sure think long and hard before we let Jamel sign with another team.
Have no idea what’s REALLY going on with Zyon, but we need to figure that out fast. Parrish had an excellent 1st half of the season, but he faded in the 2nd half IMO. I don’t see him as a starting OUTSIDE corner, at least until he gains more experience. And Morrison just befuddles me. He’s very inconsistent IMO; great or terrible on just about every play. Like Parrish, maybe he just needs more experience.
In any event, I’d look hard at re-signing Jamel Dean, PLUS add another starter-quality CB in free agency. Wouldn’t draft a CB in Rnds 1-4 (we’ve got too many even higher needs), and would only draft one in Rnds 5-7 IF he was such a great prospect we just couldn’t pass him by (unlikely to happen IMO).
February 11th, 2026 at 6:54 am
The good thing is that Dean wants to play in Tampa
February 11th, 2026 at 7:15 am
He’s not just criticized for being injury prove. He doesn’t like to tackle, he misses tackles, he plays too far off his man, sometimes his injuries seem, well, you know.
February 11th, 2026 at 7:33 am
“All 4 CBs have good speed, but the only lock-down corner of the 4 is Jamel Dean. And contrary to what so many seem to comment, he’s also the best tackler of the group.”
Easily the best tackler in the CB room
“In any event, I’d look hard at re-signing Jamel Dean, PLUS add another starter-quality CB in free agency. Wouldn’t draft a CB in Rnds 1-4 (we’ve got too many even higher needs), and would only draft one in Rnds 5-7 IF he was such a great prospect we just couldn’t pass him by (unlikely to happen IMO).”
Fwiw, this CB class isn’t top heavy, but there’s an abundance of talent. Just like WR there’s justifiable reason for teams in a position comparable to ours to draft a CB every single year. Whether we keep Dean or not
I’ll get killed for this, BUT the premium talent at ILB will be around a little longer than CB talent and say we’re on the board rounds 2-4, and guys like
-Keionte Scott
-Daylen Everett
-David Igbinosun
-Domani Jackson
-Treydan Stukes
-Tony Grimes (perfect Dean replacement 6’2-190-4.3 speed, but much better hip fluidity than Dean and as willing a tackler)
-Denver Harris
Also somewhat intrigued by Tecario Davis, especially given his skill as a press man corner, along with his length.
Wouldn’t mind swinging at any one of these players whether we bring Dean back or not.
February 11th, 2026 at 7:43 am
He has his best year in a contract year, wow that’s shocking. Dean has been injured most of his career. I bet if he gets a big bag of cash, he will miss many games.
February 11th, 2026 at 8:27 am
Doesn’t matter what metric you use, Dean was one of best 2 or 3 corners in the league last year, only minimal time missed too. Re-signing him would save a pick and eliminate one question mark from the team
February 11th, 2026 at 8:30 am
Goerge R … ‘Dean has been injured most of his career.’
Jamel Dean has played in 96 games in his 7 year career (average of 13.7 Games/Year). Carlton Davis played in 89 games in his first 7 years (12.7 Games/Year). Interestingly though, Carlton played in all 17 games this season (926 def snaps – 91% availability) for the Patriots, PLUS 3 post-season games. 2025 was the only year that Carlton got more than 14 games in any season. New England took a chance signing him to a 3-year contract ($18.0 mil/year) but it seems to have paid off in the 1st year at least. Carlton only allowed a 50.0% completion rate, allowing a TOTAL of 87 passing yard on 11 completions in 17 games.
Could very well be wrong on this, but I think what happened to Davis here is the same thing that’s happened to Dean: too many SOLO tackles for a CB. Davis averaged 44.3 SOLO tackles in his 7 years BEFORE going to the Patriots. That’s an average of 59 SOLO tackles every 17 games. This past season, playing all 17 games for the Patriots, Carlton made 39 SOLO tackles, far below what he would’ve averaged here if he played 17 games a season.
Can’t help but wonder if our tackling problems are more costly than just allowing excessive explosive plays. Maybe by playing so far off so often it makes tackling more difficult (would seem easier & less ‘violent’ to tackle if you’re right on top of someone when they catch the ball?). Plus the current Bucs don’t seem to be nearly as proficient at ‘gang tackling’ as we used to be.
February 11th, 2026 at 8:34 am
Dean and Ben Morrison are the same guy. Always hurt. Keep Morrison on his much cheaper rookie contract. Let Dean go and spend the extra cash on inside linebackers and edge guys that can cover downfield
February 11th, 2026 at 8:45 am
I would have no problem with that because he is way better than most Tampa fans give him credit for, always has been. The issue is health. You are re-signing a guy that, more than likely, is going to only play 12 to 13 games
February 11th, 2026 at 8:55 am
Better idea. Don’t resign Dean.
February 11th, 2026 at 9:01 am
Priority is to franchise him and use the pick to get another edge rusher. You can’t waste second round picks on corners and not let them play. Morrison needs to see the field. Without a pass rush even Revis would look bad.