Possible Cap Casualties In The Secondary
February 9th, 2025
Danger lurking?
A month from Wednesday the NFL free agency dinner bell rings.
NFL suits will be free to sign anyone available to be had (of course, legal tampering launches a month from tomorrow. And in about two weeks, illegal tampering ramps up at the combine).
Joe has one guy in mind when it comes to a salary cap casualty. It’s not that Joe wants the guy launched, but unless he works his contract so that the bulk of his salary is tied to games played, Joe would be willing to walk away. And that guy is Jamel Dean.
Look, Joe doesn’t hate Dean. In fact, Joe thinks he’s a better corner than most fans think. But gosh darn, he has to stay on the field. Dean has become so injury-prone he is on the edge of becoming a liability.
Dean has either missed or could not finish three of the past four Bucs’ playoff games due to injuries. If a guy can’t stay on the field in the team’s most important games, what’s the point?
Per Spotrac.com, Dean’s contract runs through 2026 but there is an escape clause this offseason.
Dean is scheduled to make $13 million this year but there is a cap hit of only $6.85 million this offseason if the Bucs get rid of him.
Dean has never played a full season and this season missed five games, the most of his career. He will turn 29 in October and dudes who push 30 don’t get healthier. In fact, it takes them longer to bounce back from injuries, which could be why Dean missed five games and also bowed out of the playoff loss to Washington.
Dean may not be the only defensive back to be a salary cap victim.
Logan Urlich of NFLTradeRumors.com seems to think safety Jordan Whitehead is on thin ice. In 2025, Whitehead enters the final year of his contract.
Whitehead, again per Spotrac.com, if he stays, is due $4.5 million. That also is the cap hit the Bucs would take if they release him.
Though he showed toughness coming back from a pec injury, Whitehead was a big disappointment. Joe saw too many loafs. Not all the time, but a handful is far too many.
Joe believes that if you gave truth serum to Bucs coaches, they would confess to buyer’s remorse with Whitehead. A year ago, the Bucs thought they were getting the same guy back who shined in the Bucs’ 2020 Super Bowl season.
So Whitehead costs the Bucs $4.5 million in cap room. May as well keep him unless you have someone else ready to sign who could provide better play.
Based on Spotrac, it seems Dean is in more danger than Whitehead.
February 9th, 2025 at 8:25 am
I would keep Whitehead on the roster, if a draft pick beats him out, we still have great depth in case of injuries.
February 9th, 2025 at 8:30 am
No offense Joseph – but you apparently need a tutorial on how to read a spotrac chart….
Jamel Dean’s cap hit in 2025 is $15.28M. His dead cap hit is $6.85M. So the Bucs save $8.43M by trading or releasing Dean….
Jordan Whitehead signed a 2 year – $9M contract. $4.5M of that was guaranteed. Whitehead’s 2024 compensation was $4.5M – so there are no more guarantees…
$0 dead cap hit if released.
If Whitehead is on the roster March 16th 2025 – a $750k ‘roster bonus’ becomes guaranteed – and then he earns $3.75M in salary for the 2025 season. ($4.5M total cap # for 2025) – But if released prior to 3/16 – the Bucs owe him nothing.
Whitehead can earn up to $1.5M additional in 2025 via a variety of incentives – $250k for 3 interceptions, $250k for 3 sacks, $250k for a playoff berth if he had 3 Ints, and $250k for a playoff berth if he had 3 sacks. Also $500k for making the Pro Bowl.
February 9th, 2025 at 9:06 am
What would it take to bring in Chavarius Ward, he has already stated he will not return to SanFran. Only thing scares me is he has been on the Cowboys, Chiefs and 49ers and only 28 y/o. But if we send bth Dean and Whitehead away, Ward, the return of Izien and Tykee Smith, McCullom, Edwards and Winfield and adding another year from some of the guys that got experience last year, the secondary can be better than last year
February 9th, 2025 at 9:24 am
Dean and Whitehead are among the leading tacklers on the team when they are healthy and a big part of their run defense.
If they are healthy enough to play , Bucs should keep them .
Other contending teams in the NFC will sign them immediately –
Bucs are in win now mode.
February 9th, 2025 at 9:26 am
Whitehead needs to be released. Will always be grateful for his first stint in Tampa. His often overlooked hit and forced fumble on Aaron Jones in the NFC Championship was the most important play in the playoffs in my opinion (OK, maybe Winfield’s strip in New Orleans, but the play on Jones really sealed our ticket to the Super Bowl; And yes the deep ball to Scotty was probably the most exciting). That said, not only is he not the same player, he’s become a liability. Even without help in free agency or the draft, I think the rotational defensive backs on the roster were more effective this year.
February 9th, 2025 at 9:48 am
Neither of these guys could start for most NFL teams and they are far too expensive to be back ups. If they can rid of one immediately without cost, Dean should go. He is pathetic as a cover corner. Not sold on Whitehead but until something better shows up, keep him around.
February 9th, 2025 at 9:51 am
I don’t agree Joe that they have buyers remorse. Even if he didn’t play up to the 2020 season he was still better than who we had last year. Maybe they are disappointed but everyone outside of maybe Zyon deff played terrible.
February 9th, 2025 at 9:56 am
I would love to see tykee smith or Izien at safety. Run stuffing box safety non sense is exactly why Bowles is out of touch with the reality of NFL and this defense needs coverage. If Dean reworks his contracts he’s probably staying which is good news. I can’t remember Bucs signing free agent corners to be starters out guy is likely coming in the draft
February 9th, 2025 at 10:18 am
Keep Whitehead we pay the same either way and if he plays with a chip on his shoulder from last season then he’ll be better if nothing else, good rotation. Jamal Dean makes it hard to say he’s worth the money when he can’t make himself available all the time. If the team can save money and get good talent with better durability I say let’s do that too. But I am just a mere big buck fan and that just my opinion on it
February 9th, 2025 at 10:46 am
Agree and disagree, Joe.
Jamel, I think, should go.
He can’t stay on the field.
And when he does play, I don’t really see him making a huge impact. Of course, some of that could be the scheme he’s playing in. He may be better in man-to-man. Which brings me to my next point…
The X factor…
Coach Swiss Cheese.
He has his favorites, and Jamel is one of them.
I can totally see a scenario where Coach Swiss Cheese successfully argues to keep him, despite all the injuries and missed playing time.
I hope that doesn’t happen (Jamel staying), and not wishing any “bad” on Jamel, but I think we need to move on.
Re: Jordan… totally agree we did not get the guy we had in 2020.
Others have said here, and I saw it too, there were a few plays where it appeared he was making “business” decisions.
You could argue there are better places to spend $4.5 million. I wouldn’t necessarily disagree.
But, he knows the system, and his experience and knowledge would be a benefit to some of the younger players.
I personally think he just needs someone to light a fire under him and tell him, “We know you can play way better than what we saw in 2024. You need to go out and do it”.
February 9th, 2025 at 10:55 am
Whitehead may be completely out of football, forever, as far as being a player. The crash injury was serious, cervical fracture. Not something that one would want to go back to violent contact sport with. They heal, but is IS a spinal cord issue.
February 9th, 2025 at 10:58 am
Get rid of both of them
February 9th, 2025 at 11:09 am
Have to agree with #1bucsfan … ‘everyone outside of maybe Zyon deff played terrible’. In terms of individual performances, last season was a disaster for Winfield, Whitehead & Dean. The fact that our starters were down and that our depth was paper-thin (to the extent that we had to re-sign Merriweather then Ryan Neal off the couch) says a LOT about the game-to-game quality of our Secondary.
Todd Bowles’ teams have always relied heavily on high starter-availability; if his starters go down, the performance goes down. Bucs’ secondary played very well at the start of the season when at least 3 of the 4 starters (Dean, McCollum, Winfield, Whitehead) played almost the entire game. But once we got down to 2 or fewer starters available and had to plug in multiple backups, TB started making massive changes to how our Secondary (and ILBs) operated, and our defense became unrecognizable.
But let’s not ‘throw out the baby with the bathwater’ as mama used to say.
o Winfield (9 games in 2024) had an incredible 2023 (17 games – 1100 def snaps).
o Whitehead (12 games in 2024) had an excellent 2023 (17 games – 1078 def snaps).
o Dean (12 games in 2024) was hurt also in 2023 (13 games – 712 def snaps).
o McCollum (17 games in 2024) had a respectable 2023 (17 games – 724 def snaps).
Personally however I’d keep all 4 of them for 2025 (Bucs have some serious Secondary depth issues) UNLESS money becomes an issue. Then Dean would be the first to go (biggest savings but also the lowest availability over several years). Jamel’s a smart, hard-working outside corner who’s the senior member of our Secondary now. I am concerned that he might have ‘lost a step’ as a result of multiple injuries, and if he can’t bounce back he’s a liability back there.
Beyond those 4 DBs, we MIGHT have Bryce Hall back this year. He’s a UFA, but if his rehab went well, I wouldn’t hesitate to re-sign him (he looked really good in preseason IMO). We’ll also obviously be keeping Tykee Smith (13 games in 2024) & Christian Izien (14 games in 2024), plus also maybe Kaevon Merriweather (14 games in 2024 after a late re-signing). Not impressed at all with Josh Hayes (15 games), Tyrek Funderburk (13 games) or Tavierre Thomas (17 games). Wouldn’t have any problem releasing all 3, then drafting 1 CB and signing 2 UFAs to take their place.
February 9th, 2025 at 11:53 am
Dean is soft.
February 9th, 2025 at 12:17 pm
“I will tolerate you until I can replace you.” — Raheem
We need an upgrade in depth, talent, and scheme. But before we start getting rid of guys, the game plan to replace them needs to be in place. Jason and Todd will handle that as far as the players. Scheme is a different question.
February 9th, 2025 at 1:11 pm
Just draft Emmanwori and Revel….problem solved back there…and Schwesinger some how some way.
February 9th, 2025 at 2:36 pm
We still have the corner from the jets who messed his leg up…he’s had a whole year to rehab or was he a 1 year signee?
February 9th, 2025 at 3:54 pm
First off, we have to (and likely actually will, I think) draft a CB in round 1 or 2. Could be Morrison or Revel Jr. A lot hinges on if Lavonte comes back or not. Him retiring really exacerbates the need at MLB since Britt is a free agent himself and did not look like a starting MLB in the modern NFL imho.
We have no confirmation of how serious Whitehead injury is, do we? Tough position to play with neck injury history given high speed collisions and his style of play.
Dean, McCollum, Revel Jr. and Bryce Hall is a great top 4 going into camp. Love Ward, but Dean brings continuity/a more known entity in general for Bucs and reality is he’s probably more motivated next year as he’s further into his contract.
Tykee Smith could play way more safety if that’s the top 4. Very good in slot of course, but we just got so little playmaking out of safety last year and a high draft pick at CB could push his reps there. Combined with Winfield, could make for an excellent new combination in the back.
EDGE of course also a huge need. Bringing Shaq back is interesting both as a mentor in the training and development of Diaby and Braswell, and a player resting basically an extra year after that bad Achilles injury. Of course love some of the big names like Pearce in first round, but we can stay put and likely get a great CB where EDGE would take a trade up in first round.
Draft one of the Ohio State EDGE prospects in second round. Both good football players who hustle and play hard. A trade up in the second round is way less expensive than a trade up in the first round, and we need help at a handful of positions long term.
Regardless, I think this is an offseason to be a little more aggressive on acquiring a veteran via trade or free agency at any of our positions of need. We have a great base that won’t be as young next year, and finally have a little cap flexibility depending on how we shuffle pieces.
February 9th, 2025 at 4:08 pm
There’s only a $6.1 million difference between cutting him and keeping him. Personally, I’d be inclined to keep him one more year. We knew he was injury prone when we drafted him. Who would we get for $6.1 million that would be better?
February 9th, 2025 at 10:47 pm
I believe Josh Sweat is a free agent, that means no draft pick compensation just outbidding others for his services. He had one hell of a Super Bowl and I believe he’s only 26. Instead of giving up draft picks that builds a roster, sign free agent help if the Bucs can work the cap.
February 9th, 2025 at 10:49 pm
I would not use draft picks in a trade to upgrade the roster unless it’s a bargain price like Pierre Paul for a 3rd. That was a steal for Licht and the Bucs. No desperation moves like trading the farm for Garrett.
February 10th, 2025 at 5:09 am
They need to hit on a DB in the draft along with Edge and interior LB. Lots of free agents on that side of the ball