Keeping Jamel Dean
February 9th, 2023
Too valuable.
There is a split decision at JoeBucsFan.com world headquarters.
One Joe is good letting soon-to-be free agent Jamel Dean walk because teams don’t have two cornerbacks paid No. 1 corner money, and keeping Dean would mean the Bucs are spending too much on their secondary after they give safety Antonie Winfield a new contract.
The other Joe doesn’t believe the Bucs are that loaded to let good young players walk (especially a corner) and let’s cross the Winfield bridge when the Bucs get there.
Gregg Rosenthal of NFL.com typed a column yesterday on one move each NFC team must pull off this offseason. And for Rosenthal, the Bucs must keep Dean.
The Buccaneers are at a crossroads, and I expect their roster to look very different next season. They could consider trading big names like Mike Evans or Shaq Barrett. Lavonte David is a free agent. Longtime left tackle Donovan Smith figures to be cut. And the Bucs don’t have a quarterback.
One of their first decisions will come at cornerback. After retaining Carlton Davis on a surprisingly reasonable deal last offseason (three years for $45 million), will the Bucs spend similarly to keep Dean, one of the better cornerbacks hitting the market? If not, Tampa is rather thin in the secondary with Mike Edwards and Sean Murphy-Bunting also free agents.
First, Rosenthal, a smart guy, must be working his tail off in Phoenix covering the Super Bowl. Surely he knows there isn’t a sober general manager in the NFL that’s going to take on an expensive salary of a 30-year-old edge rusher coming off a blown Achilles.
This Joe has already stated that if it came down to 33-year old Lavonte David or 26-year old Dean, Joe would take Dean, who is one of the better corners in the league.
Joe thought it was interesting that Rosenthal mentioned moving on from Donovan Smith to save cash. Yeah, if it came down to Dean or Smith, that’s another call for this Joe to keep Dean.
Unless the Bucs can find someone who can play near Dean’s level, don’t let him go while he’s in his prime.
This Joe just thinks Sean Murphy-Bunting, a cheaper option than Dean, is too inconsistent to bank on him as a full-time starting corner. Maybe a nickel corner.
February 9th, 2023 at 4:52 am
I keep going back & forth on whether or not to re-sign Jamel Dean. One day he’s a must-have because I consider him to be better than Carlton Davis & outside CBs are super hard-to-find; the next day it’s ‘We’ve painted ourselves into a corner & we simply can’t afford him’.
Today I’m in the ‘No way we can afford him’ camp. Hate that, but we’ve screwed the salary CAP pooch so bad he’s cross-eyed. There are a number of big-name veterans I’d move on from in a heartbeat, BUT … we’d take a massive 2023 salary CAP hit if we did & that’s not good given our situation. We’d end up replacing them with cheap inferior talent because that’s all we could afford. And THAT’S not how to build a winning TEAM.
Bucs would probably be better off in the long run letting Dean walk rather than paying him his $20 mil Market Value, but not before we re-sign SMB AND Edwards AND Neal AND Delaney. All 4 are very intelligent young players who know this defense well, and I suspect that we could re-sign all 4 for that same $20 mil or maybe even less. That way we get 2 CBs & 2 Safeties for the price of one.
February 9th, 2023 at 5:22 am
Whenever you have a cap loaded secondary, you’ve got zero pass rush and in today’s league it’s a hopeless cause. You have to invest in the trenches. It’s like having Evans and Godwin but no QB to throw to them. No pass rush = all day to throw. These guys are good system guys but none of our CBs are shutdown corners.
February 9th, 2023 at 5:32 am
dern …he be missed
February 9th, 2023 at 6:33 am
A great pass rush is the best cure of a passing game
You can have 4 Pro bowlers in the secondary and with no pass rush they will get roasted
February 9th, 2023 at 6:47 am
Dean over SMB everyday of the week and twice on Sundays. The most interesting comment in this article however is, “Longtime left tackle Donovan Smith figures to be cut”. His replacement…Wirfs to left tackle?
February 9th, 2023 at 6:54 am
Too inconsistent huh ok where was that energy when he won the Super Bowl. Deans better right but ask yourself this they should have let Carlton walk cause he’s not that good. Every time he gets burnt he’s supposedly hurt. But hey imma sip my tea and oh by the way we are still going to get paid and when we play Tampa he’s gone get in they ass.
February 9th, 2023 at 7:23 am
It depends on how much he wants. If he doesn’t want to break the bank, keep him. If he needs the whole bank truck, let him go.
There are quite a few good looking DBs in the draft, and several might make to late in the second round. Get a new one.
February 9th, 2023 at 7:30 am
Trade the underachievers Smith and Gage , get a couple of draft picks. Try to trade Lenny, Brate and if you get at least a second rounder trade Diva White. Thats almost 40 mil then Bradys redo contract you should be ok. Draft a corner and a nickel corner in round one and two/three and an offensive left tackle in round two/three. Then its all gravy after the third round.
February 9th, 2023 at 7:57 am
Signing Dean longer than 1 year is risky- see Byron Jones of Dolphins.
Dean is a good player and helped Bucs win a SB, but those injuries are adding up…
February 9th, 2023 at 8:17 am
Trade him for picks.
February 9th, 2023 at 8:18 am
Go the cheaper route and replace Dean with a draft pick….a high one….round 1 or 2….
Replace LVD with a draft pick…..cut Smith…..try to salvage enough cap to sign SMB, Edwards, Nelson & RNR…
Let the older players walk……Brady (already) Rudolph, Brate, Bernard, Julio, Hicks, Ryan, Gholston
February 9th, 2023 at 8:43 am
Absolutely. And the Bucs are creeping closer and closer to Lost Decade-type non-pass rush with Shaq’s injury/age and JTS not taking a step forward.
February 9th, 2023 at 9:14 am
The only reason I could see not bringing Dean back, is because the CB draft pool is kind of deep this year and has plenty of those rangy, long CBs Bowles likes.
February 9th, 2023 at 10:27 am
I hate to let Dean go, but something somewhere has to give and it just might be Dean.
I think JTS will develop this year. He shows a lot of ability, but he doesn’t really seem to have a logical backup plan when his first move fails.
We are just so far behind the eight ball on the cap.
February 9th, 2023 at 10:28 am
Licht is gonna have to pay the piper this year.
February 9th, 2023 at 10:48 am
IMO NO WAY CAN DEAN WALK!! He’s the best and healthiest cover guy we have. He needs to be resigned. I truly believe what Bowles said is correct. We need to reload not rebuild and if we can trim some unnecessary salary cap and get a few extra draft picks, we definitely should. We have a team that can win the division and if we keep reloading through the draft this team can stay competitive. Plus I think something’s going to happen sometime where the NFL gives a forgiveness to the salary cap and makes all these teams pushing salaries down the road equal.
February 9th, 2023 at 11:07 am
If the pass rush doesn’t greatly improve Bucs are going to need as many good corners as they can get.
Keep Dean
February 9th, 2023 at 11:24 am
This is an EASY answer that I said a couple of weeks ago.
Regardless or they decide to keep Dean or not, YOU at minimum TENDER HIM with 1st round grade…He can talk to teams then Bucs have right to match the outside contract offer. If not, they get teams 1st round pic 🤷🏻♂️!!
Very simple,..
Don’t need to franchise tag or transition tag necessarily here…
February 9th, 2023 at 12:14 pm
^^^True story
February 9th, 2023 at 2:35 pm
Well they could always tag Dean, and try and work out a long term deal. I think CD3’s days are limited. I bet he gets 1 more season unless he somehow stays healthy for once. He has been too banged up to be a reliable longterm solution. Thats why I justify signing Dean now, keep CD3 this year. Try to trade or release him next year so they can sign Winfield.
February 9th, 2023 at 3:15 pm
Hate to say that with no pass rush we need him!
The Dallas game really exposed us, we never even touched Prescott.
February 9th, 2023 at 6:05 pm
If one has to go, I’d take Dean any day over Davis. He’s bigger, faster and rarely is out of position.
Davis is really good working closer in but in the deep passing game, Dean is the best cover corner on the Bucs.
Why not trade Davis, he makes no interceptions and isn’t that great of a tackler. He excels in press coverage and Bowles plays a lot of zone, not Carlton’s best position. I do like the way Davis breaks up short passes, he is exception at covering quick passing offenses.
February 9th, 2023 at 8:05 pm
Bucs need to prioritize signing Dean and Lavonte David.
All other FAs whether coming or staying will have to sign at a discount or not be here.
Guys like Ryan, Neal, Nacho, Stinnie – maybe Gholston can probably be signed for a good price if their compensation looks similar to last year’s.
Younger guys like Edwards and SMB and Nelson will perhaps have better opportunities and likely get paid more elsewhere.
February 10th, 2023 at 8:05 am
Dean is a stud. He is easily now our best CB and the coaches know it. He must be retained.
February 10th, 2023 at 4:19 pm
Joe,
Would it make sense to trade Carlton davis as a post june 1st trade. That way, in only counts a few million to the cap. Then we could have the majority of the money to re sign jamel dean, who, in my opinion, is the better, more reliable corner. We could get some assets for davis as well so that we have an opportunity to draft someone else
February 10th, 2023 at 5:35 pm
Dean is a good corner, but not sure how often he has gone up against another team’s No. 1 receiver. Davis often gets those assignments and more often than not does well.