Buccaneers Get Bad News on Jamel Dean Injury Update

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers entered the 2021 season with the league's scariest defense on paper. General Manager Jason Licht miraculously retained every starter from the group that limited Patrick Mahomes, Aaron Rodgers and Drew Brees to a combined 18.3 points per game in last year's playoffs. Of course, that ended with a Super Bowl victory.

But the Bucs are paying the price for that long postseason run. Tampa Bay has already lost plenty of key contributors to injuries just three weeks into the season. And things are really starting to compound in the secondary, as corner Jamel Dean has been ruled out of Week 4 with a knee issue.

Jamel Dean Injury Update

Thankfully, Dean's knee injury is reportedly not believed to be serious. It sounded like he had an outside shot of suiting up earlier this week, so he should be considered week-to-week for now.

Still, his absence leaves Tampa Bay dangerously thin in the secondary. All three of Tampa's starting corners from last year have gotten banged up at some point. Sean Murphy-Bunting has been on injured reserve since Week 1. Dean exited early in Week 3 and will miss Week 4, and Carlton Davis has popped up on injury reports with a hamstring issue.

As a result, Tampa Bay signed the 33-year-old CB Richard Sherman, who might be asked to come off his couch and play a big role against the New England Patriots on Sunday.

Sherman might need to turn back to the clock to fix this pass defense. Tampa Bay currently ranks dead last in passing yards allowed per game (338.3) and passing touchdowns surrendered (9). That might be a running theme until this secondary gets healthy.

Hopefully Dean is cleared in time to face the Miami Dolphins in Week 5.

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Max Staley is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Max Staley also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username mstaley1212. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.