Jamel Dean already had a lot of responsibility on him, and now that he’s the number one corner on the Bucs in the secondary, that responsibility has grown even more. Known as a good press corner in man-to-man, Jamel Dean is valuable for Tampa Bay when available. The problem is, Dean missed four games last season and has a bit of an injury history through his career.

That’s why Jamel Dean is putting an extra onus on staying healthy this year. Over the last two seasons Dean has various injuries all over ranging to anywhere from his shoulder to his ankle. He’s already taken measures for how he’ll go about it by starting his work on it earlier than usual.

Jamel Dean And His Plan To Stay Available

Bucs CB Jamel Dean – Photo by: USA Today

“Mainly just working on the muscles that I’ve been probably been neglecting,” Jamel Dean said. “When you start compensating for other muscles, that’s when the injuries start happening. So the whole offseason I’ve just been working on just building on different parts of my body so I can be well balanced. Quad, hamstrings, shoulders, everything possible that comes with the season.”

The other concern when it comes to Jamel Dean was his inability to take the ball way. He’s great in coverage, but is very lacking when it comes to the interceptions. He had none last season and two, which both occurred in the same game, two seasons ago. Dean’s had his opportunity as well but has literally dropped it. That was glaring when he dropped an interception in the end zone against the Lions in the divisional round of the postseason.

Will Jamel Dean Consistently Take The Ball Away?

Jamel Dean hasn’t forgotten about his miscues on interceptions, partially because cornerbacks coach Kevin Ross keeps reminding him to go and catch the ball. Ross has been on the record saying Dean can be at a Pro Bowl and All-Pro level if he did so.

Bucs CB Jamel Dean – Photo by: USA Today

“Probably a month or two when the season was over with and I’m not even thinking about football,” Jamel Dean said of when Ross was reaching out to him. “I still get a text message from him ‘You need to start catching balls.’ I’m like ‘Okay, I know. I dropped five interceptions last year, I’m sorry.’ I’m working to improve on that so I’m catching 50 balls a day in there.

He has a new idea of how to get better at holding onto the football, but it’s going to take some help from his teammates.

“If I get a chance to catch with the quarterbacks I try,” Dean said. “Even though they be treating me like the guy that shows up to the party and then everybody just leaves. I just want to get better, too. I just want to catch a ball from a quarterback, get to see how they’re throwing it.”

Eagles WR DeVonta Smith and Bucs CB Jamel Dean – Photo by: USA Today

How Good Is The Bucs’ Secondary?

The Bucs have revamped their entire secondary to a degree. They added safeties Jordan Whitehead through free agency and Tykee Smith in the draft, cornerback Zyon McCollum is presumably going into a starter corner role opposite of Dean, but he’ll also be pushed by Bryce Hall and Tavierre Thomas in freer agency. So the Bucs have better depth all around. It makes Dean feel confident about what they can be this season.

“We can be great,” Jamel Dean said. “I feel like we brought back most of the people that we had from the first couple years I was here. And then Zyon, he stepped up last year and you can see coming into these OTAs that he’s matured. He’s starting to get a vet mentality now, so I guess he’s the next man up. But the standard is still the same.”