CB Jamel Dean – 6-1, 206 – 23 years old – 2nd season

After being a hot recruit out of high school and landing at Ohio State, Dean was declared medically disqualified to play football after several knee injuries. Eventually Dean transferred to Auburn, was medically cleared, and returned to the field without losing much athleticism at all.

Dean’s NFL Scouting Combine performance probably isn’t talked about enough, as he ran a 4.3 flat 40-yard dash and jumped 41 inches in the vert and 10’10” in the broad at 6-1, 206 pounds, AFTER three significant knee surgeries. Physically, Dean has held up just fine over the past three years of his football career, starting his last two seasons at Auburn and seeing significant playing time down the stretch of his rookie season in Tampa Bay.

Although Dean was the latest-selected cornerback of the Bucs’ starting trio, he has already had a better stretch of football than either of his running mates can claim. Although technically the Bucs third cornerback last season, Dean saw the field heavily given the team’s propensity to operate out of nickel. What he put on tape was enough to warrant a look at even more playing time this season.

Let’s get the bad out of the way first. In Dean’s first real NFL action, he got absolutely obliterated by Seattle, specifically fellow rookie D.K. Metcalf and veteran Pro Bowler Tyler Lockett. It was a beat down of biblical proportions, and Dean looked sluggish and slow to anticipate opposing receivers’ movements.

Although Dean was just soundly beaten a few times on the outside, it didn’t help that he had a few ill-advised match-ups in the slot against Lockett, or that he was picked off several times on switch releases that put him in early recovery mode. For a corner making his first NFL start, that’s a tough spot to be in. He’s over No. 3 to the field in both of the plays below.

Even while giving up three touchdowns and getting picked on all afternoon, Dean still managed to break up three passes and make a few plays himself. There were flashes of what was about to come, even if it was difficult to see through all his Week 9 struggles.

The following week against Arizona, Dean went out and had an outstanding game, giving up just one catch for minus-2 yards, intercepting one pass and knocking away two more. He’s not quite as long as Carlton Davis, but Dean’s 31 3/4-inch arms are still outstanding for a cornerback, and they consistently aid him at defending the catch point.

I don’t think anyone would describe Dean as an ideal off-man corner, but it’s hard to deny that he didn’t give up much in front of him last season. His burst to the ball isn’t elite, but he trusts his reads when receivers’ break their patterns off, allowing him to get an early jump on the ball if the throw is late or sails at all.

Like Davis, Dean is not the twitchiest or most laterally agile cornerback in the NFL, but he is fluid enough to generally get the job done in off-coverage, especially against bigger targets on the outside. I thought the job he did against Calvin Ridley in both match-ups last season deserved more love.

Dean bites slightly on Ridley’s inside fake, but is able to recover smoothly and use his length to get up and make a play on the ball.

Sometimes when bigger cornerbacks can’t move like a Jaire Alexander or a Denzel Ward, they have to make up for it with their length and leaping ability. Dean may never be an optimal choice to cover slot receivers with a two-way go off the line of scrimmage, but it is really difficult to beat him down the field on the outside. His speed and length just erase throwing windows that other corners can’t close.

This is where Dean offers a little bit more than Davis. While he isn’t quite as technical or polished at the line of scrimmage as his more experienced teammate, Dean is a better athlete with special long speed for the position, before you even take into account his size. It’s just hard to get a downfield, lower percentage throw around him if you don’t beat him off the line of scrimmage and create instant separation.

Dean is the rare big corner that tests fast and plays fast. In college, I didn’t think Dean always played fast because he isn’t overly twitchy in his first step or two, but his long speed was undeniable last season. Watch him chase Ridley across the formation and break up this pass. Wheels.

After the Seattle game, Dean was lights out the rest of the season for Tampa Bay. His work on the outside combined with Davis’ elevated level of play down the stretch gave the Bucs two outside corners that looked like they may be the team’s long-term solutions at the position. That hasn’t been said about a cornerback in Tampa Bay for a long time – really since the days of Ronde Barber and Aqib Talib.

Dean’s sample size of 372 snaps is still too small to make any massive assumptions about where his career is headed, but it isn’t hyperbole to say that he was one of the best rookie defenders in the NFL when he was on the field last season. He finished the season with 17 pass breakups and two interceptions in just five starts. Will Dean wrestle away the other starting outside cornerback spot from Sean Murphy-Bunting in camp, or will he continue to shine in heavily-deployed nickel packages this season?

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