Cornerback Jamel Dean has signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers in free agency, per Tom Pelissero and Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network. The deal is for three-years and $36.75 million. This ends a seven-year run playing for the Bucs, which was highlighted by winning a Super Bowl in his second season.

Dean was able to become a free agent after the Bucs restructured his deal where he took a pay cut in exchange for ending his contract early and making him eligible to hit the market. Tampa Bay took a gamble by signing Zyon McCollum to a contract extension without committing to Dean for beyond the season. It appears that plan backfired as McCollum struggled all year long and Dean hard arguably the best season of his career by recording a career high three interceptions, including a pick-six. That performance landed him a new signing.

Jamel Dean’s Career With Bucs

The Bucs drafted Dean 94th overall in the third round of 2019 NFL Draft. That draft class for Tampa Bay featured several key pieces to their championship defense including Devin White (Round 1) Sean Murphy-Bunting (Round 2), Dean, Mike Edwards (Round 3, 99th overall) and Anthony Nelson (Round 4).

Bucs CB Jamel Dean – Photo by: USA Today

He ended up being a feature corner for the group, teaming with Carlton Davis as the other outside corner, they formed a great tandem for the secondary. Dean has played in 96 games with 77 starts during his time in Tampa. He has 11 interceptions in his career with two pick-six’s and 61 pass breakups.

Dean excelled as a corner in man-to-man coverage, often taking the opponent’s top wide receiver. The knock on Dean, and likely why Tampa Bay planned to move on from him, is that injuries have cost him to miss several games in his career. He has yet to play every game in regular season. The closest he got was 15 games in 2021 and 2022. Last season he missed three games and has been out for 12 games over the previous three years.

He’s been good on the Bucs, but committing big money to a corner that will be 30 next season doesn’t sound like a move that Tampa Bay would make. Plus, with the season that he just had, its likely he’ll garner more money than the Bucs can afford at the moment with other areas of the team they still need to fix.

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

Known for his fun interviews where Dean would often use the phrase ‘Don’t make a scene, it’s just Dean’, he was enjoyed by many Bucs fans and considered a key member to bringing a Super Bowl back to Tampa. He heads off to __ where he should be starting and adding more help to a solid group

Bucs CB Room Outlook 

The Bucs are pretty equipped in their secondary without Dean. McCollum will continues to start on the outside, and it’s an opportunity to last year’s second round pick Benjamin Morrison to be a full time stater. Jacob Parrish will continue to play in the slot, but can also move outside if it’s needed.

Bucs CB Benjamin Morrison – Photo by: Cliff Welch P/R

The question really is about if McCollum can bounce back after a season where opposing team’s targeted McCollum in games, and if Morrison can stay healthy and get through training camp. Because he missed so much time in the spring and summer, it took Morrison longer to get acclimated to the NFL level.

There’s no question that Jamel Dean was the best corner for the Bucs. But Dean’s great season likely priced him out of the Bucs’ budget. The’ll have to hope that McCollum and Morrison meet the level of expectations that many have for them to bolster this defense that has struggled for several seasons without finding answers.