Todd Bowles became the defensive coordinator of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2019, the same year the NFL team chose Auburn cornerback Jamel Dean in the third round of the draft.
Bowles is now in his fourth season as Tampa Bay’s head coach, so when Dean picked off San Francisco 49ers quarterback Mac Jones in the Buccaneers’ 30-19 victory on Sunday, the interception was the 10th Bowles had seen Dean make in the NFL.
But Dean’s sack of Jones was a first.
“That was Dean’s first sack that I’ve seen in my career,” Bowles said, “and that was probably the best play I can say, next to Mike Evans getting a thousand yards last year, that I have ever seen him make, so that goes down in history for me.”
Because Jones fumbled on the sack, Dean became the first NFC player with a sack, forced fumble and interception in the same game this season, and he won the NFC Defensive Player of the Week Award for Week 6 of the NFL season for his performance.
Dean became the first Tampa Bay player to win the NFC Defensive Player of the Week Award since Ronde Barber in a 16-10 victory over the Carolina Panthers on Sept. 9, 2012.
Dean is the second former Auburn cornerback to win a Defensive Player of the Week Award. Roderick Hood won the NFC Defensive Player of the Week Award for Week 5 of the 2012 season after he intercepted two passes and returned one 68 yards for a fourth-quarter touchdown in the Arizona Cardinals’ 34-31 victory over the St. Louis Rams.
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The other Player of the Week Award winners for Week 6 were Atlanta Falcons running back Bijan Robinson, NFC Offensive; Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes; AFC Offensive; Denver Broncos linebacker Jonathon Cooper, AFC Defensive; Carolina Panthers kicker Ryan Fitzgerald, NFC Special Teams; and Los Angeles Chargers kicker Cameron Dicker, AFC Special Teams.
Dean is the third alumnus of an Alabama high school or college to win a Player of the Week Award during the NFL’s 2025 season. New England Patriots cornerback Marcus Jones (Enterprise, Troy) was the AFC Special Teams Player of the Week for Week 4 and New Orleans Saints cornerback GaQuincy “Kool-Aid” McKinstry (Pinson Valley, Alabama) was the NFC Defensive Player of the Week for Week 5.
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