Just Say No To Jaire Alexander, Unless…
February 27th, 2025
Brittle Packers cornerback Jaire Alexander.
As a fan pointed out in the comments, beware of players whose teams wash their hands of them. That’s not always an absolute, but Joe thinks in this case there is some merit to the cliché.
Joe and fellow fans are fed up with Jamel Dean missing so much time. Now Joe likes Dean the player (not many do), but Joe cannot depend on the guy. He’s always hurt and you don’t get healthier as you get older. And Dean’s closer to 30 every day.
When it comes time for the playoffs, if Dean is even on the field, he won’t be for very long. That’s for sure.
That brings Joe to Packers starting corner Jaire Alexander. The Packers are shopping him. Alexander is a talented player but he misses more time than Dean with injuries. No lie. A lot more.
In the last four years, Dean has missed 11 games, including five this year, the most he has ever missed in a season.
Alexander? He’s missed 34 games in the same time frame! Good grief.
If the Bucs are irked by Dean’s injuries (Todd Bowles seemed irked when he grumbled yesterday about players missing time), then the answer is not bringing in Alexander.
Now if you want to restructure Dean’s contract and sign Alexander on the cheap, and figure if you have both guys they could add up to a full season of starts, well, that’s a novel approach. But Joe wouldn’t say that’s savvy at all.
Joe would rather the Bucs bring in a corner who doesn’t miss a month because he has a sore pinky or a guy happens to fall on him.
Special Guest Jason Licht Joins The Ira Kaufman Podcast
February 27th, 2025 at 12:09 am
If there are any trades it should be for a pass rusher, like Harold Landry. A 2nd or 3rd round pick for him would be savvy. He’s got a reasonable deal for a high volume pass rusher. Save the rest of the picks, unlessu Jason wants to recoup some with trading our players.
February 27th, 2025 at 12:12 am
We’re not giving up draft picks for someone who is less available than what we have now. I see us definitely drafting a corner before day 2 is done. That is, unless we manage to score a top shelf starter in free agency.
February 27th, 2025 at 12:34 am
He’s our new edge rusher. Don’t underestimate the creativity of our dual role jenius.
February 27th, 2025 at 1:04 am
Filthy Animal … ‘I see us definitely drafting a corner before day 2 is done. That is, unless we manage to score a top shelf starter in free agency.’
I could definitely see us doing both, especially if we trade or release Jamel Dean. Right now under contract Bucs have (1) McCollum; (2) Dean; (3) Flowers; (4) Hayes; (5) Funderburk all listed as CBs. Bryce Hall, Troy Hill, Tavierre Thomas are all UFAs. If we’re gonna rebuild our CB room, I’d keep McCollum and Dean for this year, re-sign Bryce Hall (providing that his rehab has gone well), draft a high-quality CB in Rnd 1 or 2, then add 1 more starter-capable veteran CB.
That’d give us 5 starter-quality CBs on our 53-man roster to start the season, with the admitted expectation that we’ll lose 1 to injury before the season is half over. It never fails. but in the process, our Secondary can stay strong & competitive.
February 27th, 2025 at 3:39 am
Be curious how much Dean can avoid “injuries” if we actually have a couple legit CBs that can challenge him for playing time. Def think Hall can if he’s healthy, adding another solid one in FA and the draft can only increase the pressure on him. Perfectly fine if they move from Dean as well though.
February 27th, 2025 at 3:47 am
Absolutely not. Guys a headcase diva. The opposite of what were looking for. Local radio says he’s talented, but often hurt, and pulls stupid stuff. Like making himself a captain because they were playing in his hometown. Just too divaish
February 27th, 2025 at 5:14 am
Alexander looks like a hard “no”.
His overall numbers aren’t that much better than Jamel’s, and he’s missed more time.
@FlBoy84 does bring up an interesting question, however.
For me, I’m just not sure I’d like to take that chance, given all of our other defensive needs. We only have so many roster spots and if Jamel doesn’t rise to the challenge we’ve wasted one of them.
I still think we need to cut Jamel.
The guy from Tennessee that JBF.com wrote about a day or two ago looks like he would be worth investigating.
February 27th, 2025 at 7:39 am
If we had 7 or 8 dudes like Dean and Alexander we could JUST get by… At least two of them could probably go on Sunday
February 27th, 2025 at 8:14 am
Licht made a horrible decision keeping Dean, Carlton Davis was and is by far the better corner, should have kept him and locked him up long term.
February 27th, 2025 at 8:16 am
What about C. Davis?
He played pretty well last season in Detroit.
PFF grade of 74.5 – ranked 29th out of 223 CBs graded.
Plus – he is familiar with TB’s system already.
Salary demand might be an issue though. We can’t afford @ $14M (Sportrac).
February 27th, 2025 at 8:19 am
Davis has been linked to his previous DC Aaron Glenn in NY at about 41 million. Should have signed him to a long term deal when he was still a Buc.
February 27th, 2025 at 8:41 am
Hard pass
February 27th, 2025 at 8:50 am
That experiment was already tried with Dean and Davis, and there was a few games where neither was available. I will take a healthy average corner anytime.
February 27th, 2025 at 8:56 am
He’s amazing when he’s healthy though.
February 27th, 2025 at 9:01 am
We play about 75% zone coverage, both Davis and Dean are more suited to man coverage
February 27th, 2025 at 10:02 am
@ teacherman
“Amazing” – is a bit of a stretch…
But when healthy Dean is certainly a “solid” starting CB.
PFF grade of 75.1 – ranking 25th out of 223 CBs in the NFL.
I would like to see Dean stay in Tampa but we still need either another solid free agent CB or we need to draft one in rounds 1-3.
T. Smith is moving to Safety and we need a legit NCB for sure.
February 27th, 2025 at 1:30 pm
Bucsfan
Why?
He ended the year injured again.
February 27th, 2025 at 2:22 pm
Davis only missed 12 games in 5 years and played virtually every snap in the rest. PFF grades Davis 29th out of 223 CB’s. Need any more Jmark?
February 27th, 2025 at 5:17 pm
Davis plays man, Bucs play zone
February 27th, 2025 at 9:09 pm
I’ve been saying it for months….cut Dean. Even if he renegotiates for cheap, drop him. We need someone who wants to play. Trade him or cut him.