Jamel Dean A Top-10 Corner
October 30th, 2025
“Don’t make a scene.”
Joe admits to being done with Jamel Dean. The Sage of Tampa Bay sports, JoeBucsFan.com columnist Ira Kaufman, was even ordering a U-Haul for Dean.
Funny thing happened along the way to the 2025 season. Dean lost weight, he studied catching and found a way to translate that to the football field, and he seems to be playing his best ball since the Bucs’ Super Bowl-winning season of 2020.
Don’t believe Dean is playing well? The folks at official NFL NextGen Stats have data proving Dean is one of the stickiest corners in the league.
Dean has taken a star turn in Year 7. His three interceptions have drawn attention, but there’s much more under the hood that demonstrates how much of a terror he’s been for Todd Bowles’ aggressive defense. Dean has allowed just 18.8% of targeted receivers against him to get open (tied for seventh-lowest, min. 20 targets), helping him to allow a completion percentage of just 45.5% (tied for fifth-lowest). He has allowed a passer rating of 22.8, which is 9.4 points lower than any other cornerback in the last eight seasons.
While Dean’s historic 2025 performance marks a major turnaround from his results in previous years, there were certainly signs of progress prior to this season. Consider that he hasn’t allowed a touchdown completion since Dec. 24, 2023 — covering a span of 741 coverage snaps (that’s the second-longest streak in NFL). Since last season began, he has been targeted on just 12.0% of his zone coverage snaps while forcing tight windows on 40.0% of his targets in man coverage.
Joe’s biggest issue with Dean was being unable to bank on him in a season’s most important games (playoffs). In the past four Bucs’ playoff games, Dean was not on the field in the fourth quarter if he even suited up.
If you can’t bank on a guy in the postseason, what’s the point? But through eight games this season, Dean has only missed one start (and most of another game).
If Dean stays healthy and continues to ball out, how do you let the guy walk out the door come March?
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