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Jamel Dean has been on a heater this year. The much-maligned Bucs corner has followed up perhaps his most challenging season with what is shaping up to be his best. In week six he recorded his first career sack. That was one of Todd Bowles’ favorite moments of his career.
“That was [Jamel] Dean’s first sack that I have seen in my career and that was probably the best play that I can say next to Mike Evans getting 1,000 yards last year that I have ever seen,” Bowles said. “That goes down in history for me.”
The concept behind that play is a really fun play call that was illustrated extremely well by ESPN’s Benjamin Solak here. But that wasn’t the only splash play Dean recorded in the Bucs huge win over the 49ers. Dean added an interception – his second of the season – a play that effectively sealed the win for the Bucs. The play itself was a staple of hos Bowles tried to gain an advantage on 49ers quarterback Mac Jones all day.
Bucs CB Jamel Dean and OLB Yaya Diaby – Photo by: USA Today
Jamel Dean’s Part In The Plan To Beat Mac Jones
Mac Jones’ superpower as a quarterback is his ability to quickly diagnose defensive structures pre-snap and find open receivers in the short-to-intermediate part of the field with a quick release. This was something we at Pewter Report noted in our “By The Numbers” article released the morning of the game.
Specifically, “The Bucs will also need to have a plan for Jones’ quick release. He is second among the 33 qualifying quarterbacks this year with an average time to throw of 2.55 seconds. This will make it difficult for the Bucs pass rush to get home unless they change up some of their coverage schematics. Todd Bowles will need to find ways to re-route receivers at the line of scrimmage and change the picture post snap to delay Jones’ release.”
This was something that the Bucs executed all game long. Per Sumer Sports, Tampa Bay disguised their coverage on almost half of their snaps against the 49ers. That is over twice their disguise rate up to that point in the season.
Watching the #Bucs DEF tape and keep seeing a ton of post-snap rotation/disguise.
Went over to the handy dandy @SumerSports Brain and wouldn’t you know. pic.twitter.com/wivtyF0dEQ
— Joshua Queipo (@josh_queipo) October 14, 2025
And it was on one of those disguised coverages that Dean was able to secure his latest interception.
The Dean pick. pic.twitter.com/g8vwqdz4my
— Joshua Queipo (@josh_queipo) October 14, 2025
Pre-snap the Bucs are showing a single-high look with a probable Cover 3 tell. Post snap they rotate to Cover 2 with Kindle Vildor bailing from a pressed look on the backside of the play to a half-safety. Antoine Winfield Jr. widens from the near hash to the sideline. The Bucs run a blitz from the boundary to hasten Jones’ decision-making process and keep him focused on that side of the field. The gambit worked as Jones clocked the extra rusher and immediately looked to the high-low concept developing to that side of the field.
The disguise and the blitz did their jobs schematically as they put Jones in conflict. On one hand he would want to take an extra beat to fully diagnose the coverage and find the best way to beat it. If he could have worked through his progressions to the backside of the play he would have found plenty of opportunity to beat the coverage. But the blitz forced him to speed up and pull the trigger quickly. And that’s where Dean comes in.
Bucs CB Jamel Dean – Photo by: USA Today
As the flat defender in Cover 2, he’s supposed to carry the fade route for just enough to buy time for Winfield to get over from the hash but also bite down on the short out keeping it front of the sticks on fourth down. And here’s the funny thing when it comes to the narrative around Dean and him playing too far off the line of scrimmage over his tenure in Tampa Bay.
Because he is seven yards off the line, he doesn’t have to drop very far to carry but can continue to keep his eyes squarely on Jones. Opening his hips to the field Dean is able to balance the two routes and effectively wait out Jones and force a throw he could break on.
Once Jones feels like Dean has cut his drop, he tries to thread the honey hole. Dean’s patience paid off as he breaks on the ball and secures it and the victory for the Bucs.
The play was a great call by the head coach and excellent execution from the Bucs corner.
Dean is in the midst of an excellent season. Per Next Gen Stats, he has allowed a catch rate of just 42.1%, a quarterback rating of 20.8, an EPA when targeted -6.4 and a 0.70 yards per coverage rep. All of those metrics are fantastic.
