According to Rick Stroud, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will not use their franchise tag to keep CB Jamel Dean before today’s deadline.
Dean is the team’s top pending free agent and is expected to be one of the most sought-after players on the open market this offseason.
He’s someone the Buccaneers would love to keep but they have salary cap issues that would make it hard for them to use the tag. The tag would be $18.14 million fully guaranteed for the 2023 season.
Instead they’ll have to negotiate against the rest of the NFL, as Dean will almost assuredly want to see what his value is in free agency.
Dean, 26, is a former third-round pick of the Buccaneers back in 2019. He just finished the final year of his four-year, $3,366,848 rookie contract that included an $846,848 signing bonus.
In 2022, Dean appeared in 15 games for the Buccaneers and recorded 57 total tackles, one tackle for loss, two interceptions and eight pass deflections. Pro Football Focus had him rated as the No. 10 cornerback out of 118 qualifying players.
We have him listed in our Top 100 2023 NFL Free Agents list.
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