The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have some serious soul-searching to do this offseason-and it starts on the defensive side of the ball. After a second-half collapse that knocked them out of playoff contention, the spotlight is squarely on a defense that struggled to hold the line when it mattered most.
While the front seven, particularly the pass rush, bore the brunt of the blame, the secondary quietly held its own. And right in the middle of that effort?
Jamel Dean.
Dean didn’t just have a solid season-he put together arguably the best campaign of his career. At 29 years old, the veteran cornerback posted three interceptions (a personal best) and locked down opposing receivers with surgical efficiency.
Quarterbacks targeting Dean’s coverage managed a passer rating of just 63.1, and they completed fewer than half of their passes when throwing his way. That’s elite territory, no matter how you slice it.
What makes Dean’s performance even more impressive is how under-the-radar it went. In a league where flashy plays and big names dominate headlines, Dean quietly shut down his side of the field week after week. He wasn’t just the Bucs’ top corner-he was one of the most effective cover men in the league, full stop.
But now comes the hard part.
With free agency looming and the Bucs needing to clear cap space-likely to pursue help on the edge-they’re facing a tricky decision: What do you do with a 29-year-old cornerback coming off a career year in a contract season?
On paper, Dean is a no-brainer to re-sign. He was the team’s No. 1 corner in 2025 and played like it. But for some fans and decision-makers, there’s a lingering question: Was this performance a true step forward, or just a well-timed surge in a contract year?
It’s a fair concern. Dean’s production in 2025 stood out, but he’s had only one other season since entering the league in 2019 that came close to matching it.
And while some players do hit their stride later in their careers, cornerback is a position where age can catch up quickly. Once a corner hits 30, the drop-off can be steep and sudden.
That’s the gamble Tampa Bay is staring down. If they bet on Dean and he maintains this level of play, they’ve got a top-tier cornerback locked in. If they let him walk, they open up a massive hole in the secondary-one that could rival the need at edge rusher in terms of urgency.
And that’s the real dilemma. The Bucs can’t afford to lose both. If they move on from Dean without a clear replacement, they’re suddenly looking at a defense with two glaring needs and limited resources to fill them.
So, can they trust Jamel Dean to be that guy again? Was 2025 the beginning of his peak, or a perfectly timed outlier?
The Bucs have some tough decisions ahead, and Dean’s future is right at the heart of them.