Let’s put the spotlight on Bucs cornerback Jamel Dean.

With the 2024 season firmly in the rearview mirror and the pre-draft process, free agency, the draft itself, OTAs and mini-camp also behind us, it’s time to ramp up the excitement for training camp and then, of course, the Bucs’ 50th season. As we did last summer, we’ll spend the weeks leading up to training camp focusing on some storylines and narratives surrounding some of Tampa Bay’s biggest stars in 2025.

So far, we’ve worked our way through storylines for nine players on offense: quarterback Baker Mayfield, running backs Bucky Irving and Rachaad White, wide receivers Mike Evans, Chris Godwin and Jalen McMillan, tight end Cade Otton and offensive tackles Tristan Wirfs and Luke Goedeke.

From there, we moved over to the defensive side of the ball. We started with key members of the front seven, including defensive tackle Calijah Kancey, nose tackle Vita Vea, outside linebackers Yaya Diaby and Haason Reddick and inside linebacker Lavonte David. As we near the end of our Bucs Storylines series, we’ve moved into the secondary. We started with cornerback Zyon McCollum, and today, we’re on to veteran corner Jamel Dean.

Can Jamel Dean Finally Manage To Stay Healthy In 2025?

Throughout his career, Jamel Dean has faced two main criticisms. One is the lack of interceptions. He only has eight career interceptions in 82 career games over six seasons. But the fact that he has otherwise been such a consistent and reliable cornerback when he’s on the field can mask the lack of ball production, at least to an extent. You can come to grips with the lack of takeaways when he’s playing like a lockdown corner, as he often has.

But the bigger, more problematic criticism of Dean in his six years with the Bucs is that he just can’t stay healthy. He has never played a full season, and the closest he came was in 2022 when he played in and started 15 games. But that’s still a season in which he missed two games.

In 2024, Dean was limited to 12 games, and he missed parts of others due to injury, too. That included the Bucs’ Wild Card loss to the Commanders, and his early exit proved costly as Tampa Bay’s secondary was left undermanned, something that Washington quarterback Jayden Daniels took advantage of. It was a similar story in the NFC Divisional Round the previous season, too.

Bucs CB Jamel Dean – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

There was a feeling heading into the offseason that 2024 might’ve been Dean’s last in Tampa. The Bucs traded Carlton Davis III last offseason after Davis dealt with similar shortcomings as Dean’s: lack of takeaways and persistent unavailability. But the difference between the two offseasons and those two situations is that when Tampa Bay traded Davis, it had Zyon McCollum ready to step into that vacancy. Had the team tried to trade Dean, there was no obvious replacement waiting in the wings.

Now, the Bucs did go on to draft Notre Dame cornerback Benjamin Morrison in the second round of the 2025 Draft before selecting Kansas State corner Jacob Parrish in the third round. So, the pressure is on for Dean to stay healthy – perhaps more so than ever before.

There’s little doubt that the starting cornerback spot opposite McCollum is Dean’s to lose, and it’s hard to imagine him losing that spot for anything related to performance. What’s more likely, unfortunately, is that an injury could spell trouble for Tampa Bay’s 2019 third-round pick out of Auburn. Because as soon as he gets banged up and a promising rookie steps in and plays well, that could expedite the end of Dean’s time as a starter in red and pewter.

There can be a bit of bad luck involved with injuries. But when they’re consistently a problem for a player, it’s hard to avoid the “injury-prone” label. For Dean, injuries have been a matter of “when” instead of “if,” and that’s frustrating for both him and the Bucs. The soon-to-be 29-year-old will just have to do everything he can to be available and hope that he’ll be able to make it through a full 17 games at last.

Will Jamel Dean Hold Off Rookie CBs To Retain His Starting Spot?

Jamel Dean has 82 games, including 63 starts, and a Super Bowl ring on his NFL resume. So, it would be foolish to suggest that he’s going to lose out on the starting role he’s held for much of the last six seasons right out of the gate. But once healthy, second-round pick Benjamin Morrison could be right on his heels.

Morrison proved to be a ballhawk at Notre Dame, hauling in six interceptions as a freshman and nine overall in his first two seasons with the Fighting Irish. Jacob Parrish, the Bucs’ third-round pick, had five picks over the last two years at Kansas State and could be a threat to unseat Dean as well. However, as much as Todd Bowles and his coaching staff have spoken about seeing Parrish as an outside guy first, he looks primed to earn the starting nickel cornerback role.

Bucs HC Todd Bowles and CB Jamel Dean – Photo by: USA Today

All of those interceptions and the ballhawking tendencies both rookies possess are only going to be talked about more and more the longer Dean goes this season without an interception. He only has one pick in his last 38 regular season games, after all.

Bucs cornerbacks coach Kevin Ross spoke earlier this offseason about the situation Dean is in and insisted that the veteran cornerback will be ready and up to the challenge from the newcomers.

“Jamel Dean – he’s going to be okay,” Ross said. “I was in that situation in Kansas City. We drafted a first-round corner in Dale Carter (in 1992) and we signed James Hasty from the Jets (in 1995). That’s the nature of this business. You’re trying to upgrade your team and keep your team up for the season. He’ll be ready. Everybody will be ready. It’s good for the backfield.”

Speaking further on the idea that the infusion of young talent will be good for the defensive backfield, Ross said the competition will be high and that unsurprisingly, availability is the biggest key for Dean this season.

“There will be a lot of competition out there,” Ross said. “You expect [Morrison and Parrish] to play, you expect them to contribute. “That’s the biggest thing – availability is the No. 1 thing. “Knock on wood, I hope [Dean] is healthy the whole year. But unfortunately, he hasn’t been. We haven’t played with the same secondary since God knows what year. It’s good to have these other guys come in and contribute.”

The best-case scenario is that Tampa Bay’s cornerback room stays healthy, of course. But the additions of both Morrison and Parrish have the Bucs better protected should Dean go down with an injury. And that itself was one of the big wins of the offseason for Tampa Bay’s front office and draft personnel in particular.

Can Jamel Dean Remind Everyone Why He’s Still In The Bucs’ Plans?

With the aforementioned criticisms about his lack of interceptions and injury history, something gets lost in all the talk about Jamel Dean: the fact that he’s a damn good football player. He played a key role in the Bucs’ Super Bowl LV season and was one of the secondary’s most consistent performers over the life of his rookie contract. That’s why he got a new four-year deal from Tampa Bay after he hit free agency in 2023.

Dean is now in his third year of that four-year deal, and while there was speculation about his future with the Bucs at times this offseason, it’s clear the team’s decision-makers are counting on him being a key veteran piece on defense this year.

Now it’s up to Dean to go out and prove why that’s the case. It’s on him to prove general manager Jason Licht, head coach Todd Bowles and the rest of the Bucs’ brass right.

Bucs CB Jamel Dean – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

What works in Dean’s favor is that when he’s been on the field over the course of his career, he really has been the model of consistency. He’s an above-average cornerback and by some metrics, his play borders on elite at times, too.

Dean’s Pro Football Focus grades are as consistent as they come. He’s been between 71.8 and 77.9 every year of his career. Similarly, his coverage grade has never been below 72.5 and never above 78.9. His play is steady, and it helps that he has also shown drastic improvement as a run defender and tackler.

As far as another reason why Dean still fits so well in the Bucs’ plans for 2025? Bowles has spoken at length about his desire to bring his cornerbacks up in coverage to play more press-man rather than leaving so much cushion and playing more zone, which is something he’s had to do in the past due to personnel challenges, among other circumstances. That has to be music to Jamel Dean’s ears, as he has proven during his career that he’s one of the better press-man corners in the league. He just hasn’t been able to play it as frequently as many (including many within the Buccaneer fan base) might’ve liked.

There are “ifs” to all of this, with the biggest being Dean’s health throughout the season. But there’s plenty of reason to believe he’ll be in a spot this season to prove why he’s been in Tampa Bay’s plans all along. It’s just up to him to capitalize on it.