Getty Jamel Dean dives for a pick in a 2022 game in New Orleans.
The Detroit Lions haven’t made spending on big-ticket items in free agency a hallmark under Brad Holmes, but that could be set to change if one publication is to be believed.
Detroit has a major offseason need at cornerback, and Bleacher Report continues to think the Lions are going to be shooting large in order to fill it for 2023. Ahead of the offseason, the site is taking a look at some new projections for the contracts big-name free agent players will earn ahead of the year.
The typically low-spending Lions have been pegged to hand a major deal out on defense to cornerback Jamel Dean. Writer David Kenyon put together the list, and had the Lions shelling out a five-year, $85 million dollar deal for Dean, which he predicts will have $45 million in guaranteed money.
As he points out in the piece, the deal is using the J.C. Jackson contract last offseason with the Los Angeles Chargers as a barometer. Jackson’s deal was worth $82.5 million with $40 million dollars guaranteed in 2022.
“The cornerback-needy Lions should be contacting Dean with a substantial offer to headline their secondary,” Kenyon wrote in the piece.
Detroit’s biggest expenditures the last two years in the offseason have been on in-house free agents. The Lions re-signed defensive end Romeo Okwara to a three-year, $37 million dollar deal in the 2021 offseason. Then, they brought back safety Tracy Walker on a three-year, $25 million dollar deal in 2022.
The Lions do have a massive need at cornerback this offseason, but this big of a need? It’s tough to say, especially given how Holmes has elected to be careful with deals in the past.
Neither of the in-house deals is quite in the same stratosphere of spending over $80 million for five years on a cornerback. Detroit might spend more modestly than that when all is said and done, but the prediction has nevertheless been made about a deal they could do.
Bleacher Report Projects Dean Signing With Lions
It’s clear that the site as well as Kenyon have been drawing parallels between the Lions and Dean for a few weeks now.
Bleacher Report took a look at revealing some early predictions about where top free agents at every position will land this offseason. In that piece, Kenyon had the Lions prioritizing a key spot on the field at cornerback with one of the best young free agents set to hit the market.
Kenyon predicted the Lions will sign Dean, cornerback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, to help fill a major void at the position. As he wrote, Dean might have plenty of suitors, but the Lions make the most sense.
“Among many options, the Indianapolis Colts, Minnesota Vikings and Tennessee Titans should inquire. But the Detroit Lions have a gargantuan need in the secondary after their defense ceded the second-most yards per attempt in the league last season. Dean alone doesn’t solve the Lions’ defensive woes, but he’s a valuable step in a positive direction,” Kenyon said in the piece.
Dean, formally a third-round pick out of Auburn in 2019, helped the Buccaneers claim Super Bowl 55. He’s been an aggressive player in the backfield for Tampa Bay and has been one of the better young players on the team’s defense.
This offseason, the retirement of Tom Brady may plunge Tampa Bay into a rebuild. Whether or not Dean would be prioritized in such a situation remains to be seen, but it feels more than likely he will explore the market and potentially get offers elsewhere.
If the Lions made him an offer like the one Kenyon predicts, it could be tough for him to say no.
Dean’s Stats & Highlights
As for Dean, he’s younger than David at 26, and broke into the league in 2019, when he was a third-round pick of Tampa Bay.
Since then, though, he’s developed into a solid cornerback and a big play option on the back end for the Buccaneers defense. While Dean hasn’t earned any league accolades for his work yet, he could be on the rise given 193 tackles, seven interceptions and 41 passes defended in his four years in the NFL.
He also has an interception return for a score and plenty of other big plays on tape to his credit:
If given a bigger role in Detroit, Dean could flourish for the Lions and be part of a solution to a pass defense which was ranked 30th and allowed 245.8 yards per-game through the air with a lack of young impact makers.
Is he worth such a massive contract, though? The Lions will have to sort that out in the coming weeks, but some see their expenditure as potentially inevitable.