The Bucs addressed their issues in the secondary this offseason and in the NFL Draft, and now it may have someone on their way out.
The youth movement of Tyree Smith moving to safety and the drafting of Benjamin Morrison and Jacob Parrish could leave Jamel Dean on the ropes in terms of being a Buccaneer much longer. Many people discussed this before the NFL Draft, but now the speculation is ramping up.
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Pro Football Network is the latest to push the idea and they did so this week in their latest piece discussing cut candidates for each team after the draft. The Bucs named Jamel Dean and cited several reasons and they make sense on several levels.
“. . .speculation could be cranked up after the Tampa Bay Buccaneers spent both of their Day 2 picks on cornerbacks, bringing in Benjamin Morrison in the second round and Jacob Parrish in the third. Dean’s injury history likely played a factor in some of Tampa’s draft choices. In six NFL seasons, Dean has missed multiple games every year. That included a career-low 12 games in 2024. He has two years left on his contract, which would give an acquiring team some control. If the Bucs were to move Dean after June 1, they’d save $12.9 million in cap space this year while taking on $2.3 million in dead money from 2025 through 2027.”
Dean could be a value to someone looking for a veteran presence in their cornerback room this offseason. The team has found ways to keep veterans around for years by moving them around to various positions, but Dean still has gas in the tank. If it isn’t with Tampa Bay, he will be playing somewhere in 2025.
This article originally appeared on Bucs Wire: PFN names a Bucs 2025 starting cornerback as cut candidate after draft