Jamel Dean Addresses Playing On Borrowed Time – JoeBucsFan.com

The Jamel Dean comeback is more than just what’s on the surface of his four strong games in the 2025 season for the 5-1 Bucs.

Dean missed one game and most of another with an injury.

Dean has sort of been on the comeback trail since college. He was a third-round pick by the Bucs in 2019 after two knee reconstructions and another knee issue.

That’s left the athletic cornerback brimming with gratitude and toward a borrowed-time mentality.

“So I just assumed that, you know, not having a meniscus in my right knee, had to get both my ACL’s repaired so I was like, ‘Well, I’m already behind the 8-ball,’ Dean told the Salty Dogs podcast. “So I’m just like, ‘if I could at least get like three or four years [in the NFL]I’ll feel like accomplished something. And then I ended up just surpassing all that. So I was just like, ‘well, I’m just taking it one year at a time.’

“…So you just gotta be grateful that you got the opportunity to just go out there and play this game. Because at one point, I thought I wasn’t gonna be able to play football.”

Candid stuff there from the seven-year veteran, a starter on the Bucs’ Super Bowl-winning team.

Joe loves the Dean story, especially the fact that he and the entire Bucs secondary are healthy for tomorrow night’s clash in Detroit.