It wasn’t always a certainty, but the Buccaneers did make the right decision with their defensive starters and Jamel Dean.
All eyes are starting to turn to the Week One matchup between the Buccaneers and the Dallas Cowboys.
While the offense for the Bucs and some key losses for the Cowboys have been some of the larger storylines, an added area of interest for Tampa has been their newest starters on both sides of the ball.
Bowles and company seemed to make it clear that they were going to announce this a few weeks ago to give the starters as much time to gel as possible, but it matters little now that they took their time.
One way or another, Jamel Dean is the other starting corner for the Buccaneers, and this was the only right decision for Todd Bowles in this scenario.
Bowles says Jamel Dean will start Sunday at corner opposite Carlton Davis.
— Greg Auman (@gregauman) September 5, 2022
Every fan that actually watches the games can tell you that Dean is the better corner of the guys outside of Carlton Davis, but Bowles played this one close to the vest from the start.
From saying that Sean Murphy-Bunting was the actual other starter a few weeks ago to taking this much time to make it official, it seemed like there was an opportunity for failure in this scenario for Tampa.
The good news is that Bowles chose the better guy that is going to give the secondary its best chance at improving.
With some new defensive additions joining the fold and Dean moving into his fourth year (the most pivotal one so far), this unit could actually start to look much better in 2022.
None of this is to say that Sean Murphy-Bunting is bad at his job, but Jamel Dean is clearly the better player and the only one that Tampa should focus on extending as of right now. These reps will matter greatly in another Super Bowl campaign.
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