Throughout the 2025 NFL season, SB Nation’s Doug Farrar will write about the game’s Secret Superstars — those players whose performances might slip under the radar for whatever reasons. In this installment, we turn our attention to Tampa Bay Bucs cornerback Jamel Dean, who is making history at his age for elite pass defenders, who don’t usually have their best NFL seasons this close to their thirties.

For a lot of cornerbacks, the age 29 year is one you don’t want to face. You’re right around the corner from your thirties, and that’s generally when you want to start thinking about broadcasting. Cornerbacks who have been above average to great earlier in their careers can really fall off once the big two-nine happens. Xavier Rhodes, Rasul Douglas, Darius Slay, Marlon Humphrey, Patrick Peterson, and Xavien Howard are among those formerly great defenders who unfortunately tripped all over themselves at 29. Since 2000, and there are far more who have done so than those who have avoided the age-curve curse.

So then, what is there to say about cornerback Jamel Dean of the Tampa Bay Bucs, who is not only having his best season at age 29, but is on the way to making a bit of history? Dean hit that dangerous age on October 15, and he won his first NFC Defensive Player of the Week award on his birthday after his bravura performance against the San Francisco 49ers in Week 6.

In that 30-19 Bucs win, Dean had a sack, a forced fumble, and he gave up three catches on five targets for 104 yards, 51 yards after the catch, no touchdowns, an interception, and an opponent passer rating of 64.6. Dean became the first player with the sack/forced fumble/interception trio in the 2025 season, and the first Bucs player to win NFC Defensive Player of the Week since Ronde Barber won it in Week 1 of the 2012 season.

But wait — there’s more! Yes, the Bucs were embarrassed by the Detroit Lions on Monday night in a 24-9 surprise loss, but Dean was just as on point as he’s been all season, with one catch allowed on four targets for 24 yards, 7 yards after the catch, no touchdowns, another interception, and an opponent passer rating of 12.5. And given the coverage Dean was presented with — spot-drop Cover-3 in which he really didn’t have a chance to stop receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown — it could be argued that Dean pitched a shutout when given a reasonable opportunity.

Yeah, there are reasons that modern defenses match coverage across these days as opposed to just passively working to spots and creating voids.

In any event, on the season per Pro Football Focus, Dean has allowed 10 passes on 25 targets for 171 yards, 65 yards after the catch, no touchdowns, a career-high three interceptions, three pass breakups, and a NFL-low opponent passer rating allowed of 24.3. Pro Football Reference has Dean’s opponent passer rating at 24.6, and that’s the lowest for any age-29 cornerback in PFR’s database, which has advanced metrics going back to 2018.

Basically, what Dean is doing as the league’s stingiest pass defender at his age doesn’t have much of a precedent. Among cornerbacks playing at least 50% of their teams’ snaps this season regardless of age, nobody else is remotely close — Jaycee Horn of the Carolina Panthers ranks second with a 44.3 passer rating allowed, which puts Dean as the only NFL starting cornerback that presents quarterbacks with dirting the ball as the better option to targeting him.

“I am a goal-oriented kind of person, so once I start speaking on this is what I am going to focus on, then I basically just lock in and do whatever I can to make sure I can make it possible that it happens,” Dean said on his birthday.

Dean also explained both the interception and the sack against the 49ers.

When asked on October 16 why Dean is playing the best football of his career in his seventh season, Bucs head coach Todd Bowles made it sound like Dean was much younger. Maybe it’s just that Dean looks younger, because he’s generally been a very good cornerback; he’s just amped it up from good to great.

“It clicks,” Bowles said. “It takes a few years to get it all down and become a seasoned vet. He’s healthier, number one. When he was healthy, he always played decent football. I think the mental part of it is clicking with the physical part right now. He’s not thinking as much – he’s just playing ball. He feels free, and he’s doing a great job.”

Now, there’s the matter of Dean’s restructured contract, a revision of the four-year, $52 million extension with $24.5 million guaranteed in 2023. The 2025 restructure makes Dean a free agent next season as opposed to the 2027 season, so the Bucs will have an interesting decision to make.

So far, Dean has made his case, and he’s done so with authority. Age ain’t nothing but a number.