Still hanging in the balance with the Bucs going into the draft season is what there plans are at the cornerback position. There was much conversation earlier in the offseason about the Bucs possibly letting go of veteran cornerback Jamel Dean, which would be a $6.582 million dead cap hit but would also save Tampa Bay $8,284,941 in cap room overall.
However, given some of the outrageously expensive contracts that other cornerbacks were given this offseason, such as Houston’s Derek Stingley Jr., who, is earning $3o million per season, and Carolina’s Jaycee Horn making $25 million, Dean’s contract doesn’t seem so bad after all. It actually works out pretty well for the Bucs to keep because at $13 million per year Dean is a bargain given the fact that he has 62 starts in his six-year NFL career.
Still, there are other variables with Dean that may incline the Bucs to move on from him, especially if the team loads up at cornerback in the upcoming draft and comes away with one two starting options. Throw in the fact that Dean has been very injury prone and doesn’t intercept the ball much, making one interception over the previous two seasons, and that’s a sign he could eventually wear out his welcome next year if it doesn’t happen this year.
Jason Licht: “We Feel Good About Jamel Dean”
The Jamel Dean situation gives general manager Jason Licht a lot to mull over. Could the team replace him in the draft? Is he steadfast on Dean being the starter going into the season?
Licht spoke about Tampa Bay’s highest-paid corner at the NFL Annual Meeting in West Palm Beach, Fla.
“Jamel, [he’s] had some injuries over the past couple of years,” Licht said. “He was a really good player not too long ago. He has high expectations for himself. We have high expectations for him. We feel good about Jamel.”
Tampa Bay has prepared for the potential that Dean is beset with injuries once again. They spent this offseason building experienced depth at cornerback with the signing of Kindle Vildor and re-signing Bryce Hall, who suffered a season-ending ankle injury in the the first regular season game in his first year with the team.
While it’s certainly not the first move one may point to for the Bucs making a playoff run, these are necessary transactions that have to happen if Tampa Bay’s defense doesn’t want to get into the same pitfalls that it did a season ago. The team can ill afford to get down to its fifth- and sixth-string corners playing significant time, especially when those players last year were second-year cornerback Josh Hayes, who is primarily a gunner, and undrafted free agent Tyrek Funderburk.
“I think we’ve made improvements,” Licht said about his team’s depth at cornerback. “We’re in a better place than we were last year.”
And the Bucs aren’t done adding to the cornerback position, either. That’s why drafting one in the first round or early on is very much on the table, too.
