One of the underrated threads this offseason for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers was the future of Jamel Dean.
He still has two years left on his contract but he’s hardly lived up to the $52 million deal he signed back in 2023. Ever since then it’s been a seemingly endless string of poor performances and costly mistakes, and it raised serious questions about whether or not he’d be cut or traded this offseason.
Neither of those things happened, but he didn’t do himself any favors in his preseason debut on Saturday against the Steelers.
Dean’s preseason debut got off to a rough start. He gave up a 42-yard catch to Roman Wilson and was flagged for defensive pass interference on the very next play. Those two mistakes led directly to putting the Steelers in a position to score a touchdown — which they did.
Roman Wilson has 72 receiving yards in the first quarter 😮
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— NFL (@NFL) August 16, 2025
Jamel Dean continues to struggle, and the Buccaneers can’t afford for it to keep happening
Keep in mind this was against Pittsburgh’s backup quarterback, which gives an uneasy feeling about what might happen when games actually count and the competition is better.
Mistakes like the one Dean made to start the game are they kinds that have plagued him over the last few seasons. It’s big things like blown coverages but also little things like not laying on a receiver for just a half second longer against the Falcons last year which allowed Atlanta to get off a game-tying play as time expired.
Fans have run out of patience for Dean, but it seems he hasn’t lost his coaches yet. Tampa Bay doubled up on cornerbacks in the NFL Draft this year, taking Benjamin Morrison and Jacob Parrish, and the rise of Zyon McCollum further magnifies the struggles Dean is having.
There has been a lot of pressure on him to turn back into the cornerback he’s proven to be in the past for Tampa Bay. It seems he continues into a pumpkin more often than anyone would like, which could eventually force Todd Bowles hand if other cornerbacks end up stepping up while Dean continues to trend in the wrong direction.
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