When Jamel Dean entered the NFL, he was thought to be one of three Tampa Bay Buccaneers cornerbacks with the potential to be great. It turns out, not only was he the best of the group, he's one of the best in the league in some metrics.
Both Sean Murphy-Bunting and Carlton Davis are gone from the Buccaneers roster, as one left to sign elsewhere and the other was traded this offseason to the Detroit Lions.
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That leaves Dean as the top cornerback Tampa Bay has in the building, and according to Pro Football Focus' Thomas Valentine, he's one of the best in the league when it comes to press coverage.
"Dean’s 68.3 grade in 2023 was the lowest of his career, but the Buccaneers corner posted the second-highest press coverage grade in the NFL this season, behind Tre Brown," Valentine wrote. "Dean allowed just a 34.8% completion percentage when targeted in press coverage, and he was targeted on just 23 of his 111 snaps in press coverage.
"His excellent 82.5 press coverage grade was heightened by his ability to force incompletions. Dean did so on 30.4% of his targets in press coverage in 2023, one of the better marks in the league."
Not bad when a down year for you personally constitutes one of the best in the league that same season.
Dean has come a long way since getting torched his rookie season by the Seattle Seahawks. While many were concerned that game would be the point we looked back to as the beginning of the end for the young defender, he instead turned the experience into motivation, extra study sessions with coach Todd Bowles and effectively turned the low point into fuel for what has become a very solid career with the Bucs.
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He also turned it into a new four-year contract with the Buccaneers worth up to $52 million that has him on the roster through the 2026 NFL season. Pretty good for the best former Ohio State Buckeyes cornerback playing in the NFC South today.
