Jamel Dean Not Forgotten
January 15th, 2020
Gets props.
Early this morning, Joe brought word of two Bucs rookies who made the Pro Football Writers of America All-Rookie team.
The two honored were linebacker Devin White and cornerback Sean Murphy-Bunting.
Joe thought it was strange that cornerback Jamel Dean, who finished fourth in the NFL in passes defensed, was not on the list.
Dean may have been overlooked by the PFWA but not from The Athletic. Dane Brugler decided to list his All-Rookie team and for the NFL’s best rookie cornerback, he chose Dean.
Despite not seeing many meaningful snaps the first half of the season, Dean was too good over the final two months not to earn this spot. Playing only 368 snaps (for reference, Byron Murphy played 1,104 snaps as a rookie), Dean led all rookies with 17 passes defended (six more than second on the list), which also ranked fourth-best in the NFL, three behind Stephon Gilmore who led the NFL with 20.
While his decisiveness and durability were both question marks coming out of Auburn, Dean has flourished in Todd Bowles’ aggressive press-man scheme. His physical traits were never a concern (4.30 40-yard dash at 6-feet-1 and 206 pounds) and he doesn’t lack confidence on an island, challenging receivers and making plays on the football. With Dean, Carlton Davis and Sean Murphy-Bunting, the Buccaneers have a very intriguing trio of young cornerbacks.
Interesting that Brugler thinks Bucs defensive coordinator Todd Bowles’ defense was a perfect fit for Dean and for SMB. But in reality, how much of it is fit and how much of it is coaching these young guys up?
Earlier this season, it looked grim, as Dean couldn’t start and when SMB got on the field it wasn’t pretty. By Thanksgiving, Dean and SMB were clearly on the upswing.
To Joe that suggests it was more coaching than scheme. If it was as simple as Dean and SMB fitting a scheme or a defense, they should have had much more success a lot earlier.
At least for the time being, it seems the Bucs’ secondary, sans safety, is fixed. That doesn’t mean signing a veteran corner wouldn’t be smart. Injuries happen and it is always good to have a savvy veteran to lean on when needed.
January 15th, 2020 at 9:12 am
Big & Fast
January 15th, 2020 at 9:13 am
Congrats to him. Keep up the hard work This team has needed it for a long time.
January 15th, 2020 at 9:13 am
And Dean was hurt
January 15th, 2020 at 9:15 am
Sorry, that was in regards to “Earlier this season, it looked grim, as Dean couldn’t start”
January 15th, 2020 at 9:17 am
I hear all the comments about our safeties being question marks, but I’ma big fan of Whitehead. His ability to fill and tackle in the run game is excellent, he needs work in coverage but our run defense fell off a bit down the stretch and I would argue it took a step back when Whitehead was injured. What the secondary needs is a true center fielder that is a ball hawk to compliment him.
January 15th, 2020 at 9:27 am
IT WAS BAD. I’m happy there was “some” improvement not all the way. Maybe it’s bittersweet end but that secondary is the main reason we failed this year.
January 15th, 2020 at 9:30 am
I’m looking forward to see how the young corners mature next season. I still would like to add a proven vet at safety, maybe Todd Bowles would like to make a move for his former all pro safety from the jets!
January 15th, 2020 at 9:31 am
Im ok w/ sigining a vet CB for depth on a cheap contract however we need to solidify the safety spot w/ a a proven vet that has ball skills. Adrian Phillips from the chargers would be a nice pick up imo. Probably wont be too expensive but will get the job done.
January 15th, 2020 at 9:41 am
The ‘Band of Brothers’ getting more recognition. This is our core group that will bring stability on defense for years to come.
Vea
Davis
Bunting
Dean
Whitehead
Edwards
White
Cappa surprised this year.
Now let’s root for JEvans to get healthy and productive, however I agree we will need quality depth due to his injuries.
Nelson getting healthy.
Gay eliminating the south end zone blues.
Heck throw in R Jones, quite a few of you were ready to toss him after his tiny sample size in his rookie yr. He has room to improve with another year in the system and coaching.
That’s a pretty big dose of crow for all you JL and BA haters to eat. Try to enjoy the progress and stop being so hung up on your bitterness.
In BA I Trust!
January 15th, 2020 at 9:42 am
Congrats, big, fast and can play man coverage. he has my vote!
January 15th, 2020 at 9:58 am
i am excited to see how our secondary improves next year. Imagine, we could have elite wr, and corners, and linebackers, and dline. Just need a rb, olineman, and jameis to throw 20 pics instead of 30 and I think we are set!
January 15th, 2020 at 11:03 am
“The 2018 draft class is meaningless
All the 2018 draft year is going to be known for is
2018 was the year HOF player Jeffrey Simmons was drafted
Thats it”
Kobe Faker
January 15th, 2020 at 11:04 am
Whitehead is perfect as our Strong Safety and Edwards makes a great Free Safety and Andrew Adams can backup both of those positions; besides we have Darian Stewart already on our roster who is a Veteran Safety in reserve if needed, plus we will get back our former Free Safety who we gave up a second round pick for; so NO we don’t need to waste out cap money to bring in a second Safety. First that money is needed to resign all our Free Agents and if there is left over cap money, bring in a proven talented Backup Offensive Lineman who can backup any of our starters that may go down this year on our OL. Use the Draft to obtain a LT, an OG, and a quick, fast, RB who can move a pile and run between the Tackles and produce like Cook does, who we should have drafted many years ago. We don’t need a new DE when Anthony Nelson can replace PFF in the future when age catches up with him.
January 15th, 2020 at 11:10 am
I’m with Sport!!!!
Arians/Bowles even helped Licht improve his record of good picks. I hoping more of the same on the next draft with a safety, OL and running back.
January 15th, 2020 at 11:11 am
” and jameis to throw 20 pics instead of 30 and I think we are set”…Siege
Boy, how far have we fallen. By this standard we are all set if WE TRADE JAMEIS FOR ANY QB IN THE NFL! A quick look at the stats reveal that Lamar Jackson, a QB that runs around a lot threw eight (8) all year! Also:
Tannehill 7;
Trubisky 10 (poor year)
Fitz 13 (in Miami)
Sam Darnold 13 (Lousy team)
Jimmy G. 14 (playing for SB)
and at the bottom of the list Rivers 20 and Mayfield 21.
And then Famous Jameus ….30!!!
Ndog and the rest of you FSU followers, our QB is off the charts with his ints. See any correlation between W-L and ints? Any at all?
January 15th, 2020 at 11:13 am
so BA was right…..lol…
GO BUCS!!!!
January 15th, 2020 at 11:27 am
In Dean’s limited snaps he gave up only a 50% completion percentage, THREE TDs and snagged TWO INTs. Just off the top of my head, maybe all three of those TDs came against the Seahawks. That means, from that point on, all he did was hold opposing WRs to under 50% completions, take away TWO INTs and give up NO TDs. He shouldn’t be left off of anybody’s ALL-ANYTHING team. He and Davis both gave up 50% or less completions. SMB gave up 63% but played a lot in the slot where completions are easier to come by. This young CB trio is by far the best in the NFL. No veterans needed , Bring in more young and hungry talent to fight for the 4th and 5th spots. Ryan Smith is an UFA and is a special teams dynamo and a pretty good 4th CB. We don’t need some veteran dog to come in and steal snaps and be a bad influence on this hungry bunch. Hargreaves and Grimes were the devil.
Whitehead has a good future at safety. Edwards has potential. If Evans can make it all the way back, our safeties might be okay. Bringing in a day 3 safety prospect that can play special teams might not be a bad idea, but we have far greater needs along the OLine, RB, and DL,
January 15th, 2020 at 11:37 am
yeah folks….@lamarcus is right…lol…
30INTs, 6 pick6s, 5fumble had nothing, and i mean absolutely nothing to do with why we failed this year…..
the secondary full of rookies and 2nd year players played their 1st year in a new system and never developed, never got better thru out the year….
the QB played at a HOF level from week1-week17…..5k yards and 30TDs!!!!!!…only future HOFers do that!!!!!!…..
we should trade ME13 for not turning into richard sherman every time JW threw into double coverage…..
we should trade CG12 for “running wrong routes” and not fighting for the ball when JW was off target…..but wait….JW is never off target….if it wasnt for our lousy worthless WRs and TEs JW would already to inducted into the HOF and would be a 5x SB champ…..
BL should be fired for calling any pass plays even tho our run game sucks and we’re down 14 in the first quarter due to a JW TO…..
in order for this team to be successful, JW needs a HOF OLine from LT-RT, 2 HOF RBs and a defense that make the steel curtain look like a babys blanket….
if only JW had a decent team around him…..
GO BUCS!!!!!!
January 15th, 2020 at 11:39 am
whitehead has to work on his ball skills and coverage ability…..too many times he was a liability in coverage…especially vs TEs…
GO BUCS!!!!!
January 15th, 2020 at 12:05 pm
The shame here is that Dean lost out on all-rookie honors to another guy that was a part-time player/starter that wasn’t even that great. The other CB from the Eagles had ONE total INT, 8 passes defensed, over 70% completion percentage, and a 93.6 rating while Dean had TWO INTs, 17 passes defensed, 50% completion percentage and only a 72.4 rating against. You tell me how in any world, that Chauncey Gardner-Johnson is even in Dean’s area code… he isn’t.
https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/G/GardCh00.htm
The numbers are NOT EVEN CLOSE! Dean >>>>> Gardner-Johnson
January 15th, 2020 at 12:19 pm
need one more for depth
January 15th, 2020 at 1:55 pm
MJ Stewart a second round pick is no where mentioned…
January 15th, 2020 at 2:08 pm
At any rate it’s now clear that the Bucs should and will win at least half of their matchups in 2020. That’s a going out on a sturdy limb prediction. The team juice is fermenting positively.
January 15th, 2020 at 2:21 pm
Please get rid of mj stewert. Waste of a 2nd rd pick.
January 15th, 2020 at 2:38 pm
Rookies learning to be Pros . It takes time ( 1/2 season) and snaps and film study!
I know I know what’s JW’s excuse? There is none.LOL
January 15th, 2020 at 3:33 pm
Joe. You need to stop with this veteran corner talk. So far down the pole for needs, and whose reps would they be taking? IF there’s an injury they’ll sign someone off the street. Why bring someone in before It’s necessary? All these kids will grow.
It’s crazy how you expect them to fix every hole every offseason
January 15th, 2020 at 4:50 pm
@LaMarcus … “Maybe it’s bittersweet end but that secondary is the main reason we failed this year.” Oh ya LaMarcus, it was the Secondary’s fault for sure. Had zero to do with the 41 TURNOVERS by the offense whatsoever.
January 15th, 2020 at 5:11 pm
Hey agreed w earlier post… I for one will eat crow with the last few CB taken beginning w SMB… Guess that’s why I am
Not a GM… LOL.. those were actually solid picks by JL. I stand corrected, these 3 young DB’s look promising. I just worry about injuries w Dean but well worth the 3rd selection bc w out that history he would have been a 1st rd pick..
Optimistic about draft & FA.. lets see how it shakes out. Go Bucs
January 15th, 2020 at 6:13 pm
I wanted Dean in the draft but was definitely down on SMB. I would have taken Gardner. However, as Brandon pointed out, SMB had a much better season statistically. Not completely ready to admit I was wrong just yet, but if this continues there is no denying SMB was the better pick.
January 15th, 2020 at 10:50 pm
You pretty much never judge any player on their rookie season unless they lack some huge trait that clearly can’t be overcome.
For example, MJ Stewart. He is clearly too slow for the NFL – and that is in addition to being lost on the field. Now the lost on the field part can be fixed with experience (hopefully), but the speed part – there’s nothing that can be done there when you’re getting blown past on every play.
But so long as the guys have enough speed and/or quickness, you shouldn’t judge guys, as in wanting to keep or cut them, based off rookie seasons.
Davis is our #1 guy when he’s fully healthy – and having a competent #2 and #3 is a huge part of this defensive turnaround. While I’d have no issue with adding a veteran depth guy, this is the first offseason in a long time where we don’t need to be trying to replace the entire defensive backfield yet again – and that is exciting since it means the D-line and LBs now have a chance.
January 16th, 2020 at 1:40 pm
MJ Stewart = Pre BA
Dean and SMB = With BA
Bring on the 2020 draft