Warren Sharp: Bucs Will Miss Jamel Dean More Than You Think
July 3rd, 2026
“Jamel, you have any tricks I can pass on to Jacob Parrish?”
When the 2025 offseason began, Joe was ready to cut bait with Jamel Dean.
It wasn’t that Joe didn’t think Dean could play. He could. Joe’s problem was Dean was too brittle. Every big game he got hurt or couldn’t answer the bell. Couldn’t finish playoff games. If a guy is unavailable in your team’s biggest games, then what’s the point?
Last offseason Dean remade his body and — for Dean — had one of his healthiest seasons in a quite a while. But yeah, he still missed a chunk of time.
Dean played lights out last year, maybe the best of his career. Given how rotten the rest of the Bucs outside corners were, Joe didn’t think it was wise to let Dean walk. You know, as Raheem Morris famously said, “I will tolerate you until I can replace you.”
Joe didn’t think the Bucs had Dean’s replacement on the roster, though Jacob Parrish could be that guy.
Joe knows in 2024 folks made a big deal that when the Bucs missed Mike Evans and/or Chris Godwin, the team went into a tailspin. In fact, in games where Dean did not start in 2024, the Bucs were 2-4.
Well, in Warren Sharp’s 2026 Football Preview, he dug up the Bucs’ pass defense stats with and without Dean in 2024 and 2025. It was like night and day.
Dean is an underrated departure, as the Bucs pass defense had major splits the last two years with Dean on or off the field.
Dean ON the field:
#11 EPA per attempt (-0.01)
#14 success rate (46%)
#12 yards per attempt (7.0)
#10 quarterback rating (89)Dean OFF the field:
#32 EPA per attempt (+0.18)
#31 success rate (50%)
#31 yards per attempt (7.9)
#32 quarterback rating (112)
So basically, without Dean the last two years, the Bucs pass defense was straight trash.
This is why it is so critical for KitKat-eating Bucs coach Todd Bowles to finally break down and embrace an edge rush. A cornerback’s best friend is a pass rush.
Joe assumes Parrish will start at outside corner but Bowles keeps talking about him staying at nickel corner. If that happens (Parrish said he practiced mostly at outside corner in underwear football season), then your two outside corners to open the season against Joe Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins will likely be oft-injured Benjamin Morrison and bored Zyon McCollum.
#Gulp
July 3rd, 2026 at 8:07 am
I’m pretty sure that when final cuts happen later this summer, the Bucs will scoop up a pretty decent corner. The need for a starter and depth is just too obvious to ignore. Not worried.
July 3rd, 2026 at 8:15 am
Didn’t Joe just write about Dean loafing during plays? How can you miss a guy who’s either hurt, or loafing? So I don’t see us missing Dean, but we’re not sure who’s going to replace him. Even if Parrish, or Morrison start, Bucs need a good vet just in case. Morrison again couldn’t even get through OTAs, and mini camp, wouldn’t count on him. Bucs must be hoping someone steps up.
July 3rd, 2026 at 8:31 am
Talent wise Dean had been our best CB since Davis was traded. And he was our CB2 behind Davis. Dean was CB2 behind Davis when they played together at Auburn as well.
After Davis left and Dean got his bag, and just dialed it back. Soft injuries, plays off. Again, when he decides to play he can be very good. Just not reliable and not a guy I would count on. Typical example is that TD he gave to McMillan at Carolina last season.
We still need a CB1 shutdown corner a reliable CB2. Parrish is out best CB at this point. Will be interesting to see how it shakes out in training camp.
July 3rd, 2026 at 8:33 am
I have been saying for awhile the thought of Morrison and McColumn being the starting CB for the Bucs will be welcomed news for their oppenants. Yes the thought of those 2 starting is down right scary. They desperately need to bring in a real corner to start opposite Parrish. Another big issue is behind Morrison and McColumn their is no one . The depth is awful. Yes Bowles is taking a huge gamble here. One CB who can’t cover last year and can’t stay healthy and the other McColumn just plain isn’t interested. Yes and Yes they miss Dean. Agreed he was brittle , but he was way better than the aformentioned when on the field.
Sometimes I think Bowles is just plain stubborn or really is trying to get himself fired. I will tell you this if he starts those 2 he is well on his way to making this his last year.
July 3rd, 2026 at 8:44 am
It was a good parting. They forced him to take a pay cut, and he did not complain. I would not expect him to stay.
I wish him well. He seemed like a good man. Never heard anything bad about him.
July 3rd, 2026 at 8:48 am
Anybody that argues against missing Deans’ presence isn’t to be taken seriously as an observer. Still have a right to an opinion, but don’t mean a hill of beans if you couldn’t tell the difference in our secondary with Jamel as opposed to without Jamel last season or any time during his Buc tenure.
Was one of the first in here to question the viability of our outside CBs when Dean signed with the Steelers, and voiced that Í wasn’t sure if we needed Parrish on the outsider the time. Since the drafting of Keionte Scott, I feel a tad bit more relief in terms of having Parrish compete with B-Mo.
July 3rd, 2026 at 8:50 am
“Dean played lights out last year.”
When he wasn’t loafing.
July 3rd, 2026 at 8:51 am
Stats without context can be misleading. Dean’s ON/OFF splits are impressive, but they also overlap with a defense that ranked near the bottom of the league in pressure rate, sacks, and red-zone pass defense. Correlation doesn’t automatically equal causation.
How much of those numbers came from Dean himself, and how much came from a defense that couldn’t consistently affect the quarterback? That’s the real question.
If Jacob Parrish and Benjamin Morrison stay healthy, and if the front seven generates even a modestly better pass rush, those numbers can improve without Dean. History has shown that coverage and pass rush work together, they’re not independent variables.
Dean played very good football in 2025, and replacing that won’t be easy. But one player’s departure doesn’t doom a defense. Better coaching ADJUSTMENTS, improved health, and more consistent pressure can make a much bigger difference than simply swapping one corner for another. 💡
🔥 LFG!
💍 ME
July 3rd, 2026 at 8:54 am
Explain exactly why we let a perfectly good CB go….
July 3rd, 2026 at 9:01 am
Didn’t we draft our nickel in Scott. I mean, that guy has nickel written all over him.
July 3rd, 2026 at 9:02 am
And, pretty sure Bowles has had a rookie nickel every year
July 3rd, 2026 at 9:05 am
Like Vildor.. .maybe a little worried
July 3rd, 2026 at 9:42 am
Dean played lights out last year, maybe the best of his career. –
Down the stretch when Bucs had must win games-
At Carolina, Dean beat deep against McMillan for Panthers’ TD
At Miami, Dean jumps route and beaten deep for 60 yard TD
Yeah…Lights out
July 3rd, 2026 at 9:49 am
lol no they won’t. Idc about teams outlier season last year… this guy has bad hips, he’s over the hill
July 3rd, 2026 at 9:49 am
Deans*
July 3rd, 2026 at 10:20 am
All of our CB’s are bad. Against the Bengals and Burrow you will see that these guys simply can’t cover. Jason needs to try to find some veteran CBs when the wheels come off in the secondary, like last year. Oh and I am not convinced Parrish is any good. WRs were blowing right by him last year. Of course the so called DC adds to the misery with his defensive calls. The offense better score a lot of points, because they are not getting any help from a defense that can not stop 3rd down pass plays.
July 3rd, 2026 at 10:31 am
We’ve gotten used to missing him.
July 3rd, 2026 at 10:31 am
I’m sure we can continue to rank in the bottom of the NFL in pass defense again without him.
July 3rd, 2026 at 10:42 am
Jamel Dean did what Mike did. He knows.
July 3rd, 2026 at 10:47 am
Anyone that hasn’t seen Dean get burnt, flop faster than a WNBA player, and get hurt on non-contact plays hasn’t been watching him play for at least the last 3 seasons. It seems like every time he left his feet he got hurt. He would take every few plays off. He would cost us timeouts and he gave up more TD’s than we had interceptions the last few years. His job as a veteran was to set an example, set the tone, etc.
Here’s the worst part, either he is incapable of jumping up to content pr defend a pass or he has a fear of reinjury. Seriously, watch the film, it appears like he has zero intentions of going up to fight for the ball. Even interceptions, I noticed so many chances for an interception and he wouldn’t make an effort to catch it, if it involved leaving the ground.
Is he a good person? Yes
Did he work his contract to benefit the team? Yes
But we must ask ourselves why?
July 3rd, 2026 at 11:05 am
Read the story (again). Think it’s pretty well spelled out in the story.
July 3rd, 2026 at 11:11 am
We need more articles exposing Todd Bowles’ declining and regressing performance. The worst red zone defense in the NFL last season and bad cumulative pass defense over his tenure in a passing league.
We need more articles about Mike Evans.
All three phases of the team were sewer bound in 2025. Only one man is responsible for all three phases.
And he was retained. So Mike left. As did all the others who weren’t under contract except for Cade Otton, who got so overpaid.
This is a dumpster fire can only be extinguished by an asteroid impact.
July 3rd, 2026 at 11:28 am
Lt. Dan is probably right about us picking up a corner late. Maybe it’s because I’m an old cornerback, but Joe is dead right about the pass rush being a secondary’s best friend. Leave it up to Bowles and he’d draft a nickel every year, and a good nickel oughta be able to play outside corner or deep safety. You heard it here, but Josh Hayes is a good player and I believe he’s getting better. He plays like a nickel but I don’t think we’d be hurt if he’s having to start some games on the outside. He might just surprise some folks.
July 3rd, 2026 at 11:57 am
Dean FINALLY played well when money was on the line, I have a problem with that. We weren’t gonna give a 30 year old cb $12 million a year anyway
July 3rd, 2026 at 12:15 pm
Bowles will start Morrison on the outside and he will get toasted. And then about halfway through the season, Bowles might finally get desperate enough to start Parrish outside and move Scott into the nickel spot and try to salvage the season at that point.
July 3rd, 2026 at 12:34 pm
They were missing him when he was with the Bucs. Every other game he getting hurt, he was soft.
July 3rd, 2026 at 1:02 pm
Don’t miss Dean or Davis, the Brittle Brothers, part lime players that they were.
July 3rd, 2026 at 1:09 pm
Missing Dean is his real name. lol
July 3rd, 2026 at 1:31 pm
It doesn’t matter who starts on the outside – injury prone Morrison, Parrish,
Mc Collum or Hayes. Everyone of those guys is going to get burned. None are very good.
July 3rd, 2026 at 1:50 pm
Bowles coaches soft so of course the players he chooses are soft as well. He is a bad at choosing defensive talent as Chucky was at offensive talent. When your best corner is a coward and scared of contact what can you do when players on defense are known loafers? When your HC/DC continuously out smarts himself with blitzes that fool no one but himself because he doesn’t believe in a Dline pass rush??? Plus we have a qb who is a better less athletic version of Jaymiss Winston ATM who on one level is so exciting to watch at times but at the least opportune times makes the mistakes which help to lead to losses. If Bowles gave the GOAT his only losing season in 22 years while struggling physically and emotionally with his ineptitude and steadfast belief in a failing defensive philosophy, who in their right mind think that Mayfield can overcome that same ineptitude when he couldn’t do it in 2024 when he had his greatest statistically greatest season in his career??? If your offense is not capable of scoring of scoring more points than the defense at times gives up in droves one player will make a big difference with this HC/DC led team.
July 3rd, 2026 at 2:02 pm
One is feeling skeptical concerning comparative statistics about teams as conclusive arguments about individuals.
July 3rd, 2026 at 2:16 pm
Dean was our best CB and one of the better corners in the league but you would have never known it reading JBF articles….. A lot more comments ragging the guy than any giving him credit.
At least his home games will have home fans instead of opponents taking up a majority of the seats. Good for Dean
July 3rd, 2026 at 2:35 pm
You said it Joe and it’s so true. A good pass rush is a covers best friend. Parrish and benji got some good experience last season. Keep them developing in the right direction thro in smith and Winfield and the back end ain’t looking terrible. The additions this offseason to the dline and middle of the defense will also help. Arrow is pointing up.
July 3rd, 2026 at 3:14 pm
If you went to a surgeon for a knee replacement and instead he amputated your legs, would you go back to him for a heart valve replacement, hoping for better results????
This is what you’re doing when you HOPE Todd Bowles changes.
He will never change.