The Tampa Bay Buccaneers understand how talented cornerback Jamel Dean is. They would not have given him a 4-year, $52 million contract extension in March 2023 if they didn’t.
The problem is that Dean hasn’t held up his end of the bargain. He’s constantly hurt, missing 9 games in the last 2 seasons. He doesn’t get a lot of interceptions, with just 1 over the last 2 seasons. Dean, for all his talent, can almost be considered a sunk cost at this point.
You know what NFL teams don’t like? Players who don’t play and don’t produce. For however much Dean is beloved by his teammates, it might be time for the franchise to move on, with ESPN’s Jenna Laine putting Dean on a list of NFL players who could get fresh starts with other teams in 2025.
“This is less about a change of scenery and more about Dean’s inability to stay healthy with a giant $15.2 million salary cap hit in 2025,” Laine wrote. “Dean has been called a great teammate and a hard worker, and it’s rare to find a player with his length and speed. But he has missed 18 games in six seasons — missing nine in the past two years. Plus, he’s had one interception the past two years, which is an area where the team has been trying to improve. The Bucs’ defense is better when Dean is on the field, but he’s not contributing if he’s sidelined.”
Buccaneers Could Cut Dean in Salary Cap Move
While the better move would be to find a trade partner for Dean — much like the Buccaneers did with Carlton Davis III in 2024 — the reality is that the final move might be releasing Dean in a salary cap move in order to bring back veteran wide receiver and free agent Chris Godwin.
The Buccaneers are also now working with an extra $23.8 million in salary cap space after the NFL upped its salary cap for 2025 to $279.2 million — money that should bring them even closer to bringing back Godwin.
From Bleacher Report: “The Bucs would create $8.4 million in cap space if they parted ways with Dean. For a team that’s going to have limited options to create cap space, that could be tempting. Chris Godwin is among the team’s pending free agents, so it could be a priority to carve out space for his extension. Dean started 12 games this season and only registered seven passes defended while giving up a passer rating of 91.2 when targeted.”
Dean Has Spent Entire Career in Tampa Bay
Dean has been with the Buccaneers since they drafted him in the third round (No. 94 overall) of the 2019 NFL draft out of Auburn and was a key figure on the defense in the team’s run to winning Super Bowl LV. That season, Dean had a career-high 62 tackles and became one of just 3 players in NFL history to return an interception for a touchdown against quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
Not everyone was optimistic about Dean’s prospects headed into the 2024 season — Bleacher Report’s Brad Gagnon singled out Dean and his $52 million contract on his list of the most overpaid players in the NFL.
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