Buccaneers need to pay young stars before its too late

Of all the free agents on their team, the Buccaneers likely need to focus on Jamel Dean and Mike Edwards above all others.

While it might be a little early to start looking towards the offseason, it is never too early for a team like the Buccaneers to focus on free agents that have no business ever actually getting close to free agency.

Tampa obviously has guys like Tristan Wirfs and Antoine Winfield Jr. that need to get their money before too long, but there is actually another duo that should be a much more pressing concern.

Forget veterans like Lavonte David (as hard as that is to say), the Bucs need to make sure they lock down Jamel Dean and Mike Edwards, and they likely want to do it before the end of the season.

That 2019 draft class for the Buccaneers has been a huge part of this team’s success over the past few season. Of that talented group, Dean and Edwards have been able to establish themselves as two of the best defensive backs on the roster, and those are prime players to pay before they become too expensive in the modern, pass-first NFL.

Jamel Dean has been one of the best corners in football through the first half of the season. Dean’s allowed passer rating of 66.7 and high volume of reps shows just how well he does over a large sample size. Mixing this production with what we saw in the previous three seasons makes this signing a no-brainer.

Edwards has struggled a bit more due to his much higher volume of reps for the first time in his career, but one down stretch shouldn’t be enough for the Bucs to do anything stupid with a guy that just has a knack for finding the ball.

Pay these guys soon. It looks like their price tags could only go up as the season goes on.

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