Evaluation
John O.: Dean is more Kazee or Norwood than he is an Edmunds-type. He is smooth and decent size, albeit he plays more lean than truly physical. Dean moves well, has some instincts, and is a better pass defender than someone like Brown from Penn St. Dean generally played a hybrid role in college. Florida played him close to the line sometimes on running plays, and he rewarded his team with tackles and solid play. Dean also played coverage on running backs out of the backfield, TEs, and deep routes for WRs. He has one on one cover skills, including as to mirroring receivers, but he needs to get his head around more in defending routes. As a tackler, he is willing, but none of his tackles are splash plays. He will grab a leg and hold on for dear life or do a basic wrap up. He’ll miss some also. He instinctively undercut a pass for what should have been an INT in the FSU game, but he dropped the ball. Later, he got beat deep on a post route by an agile WR. So Dean isn’t perfect. But he knows how to play, is versatile, and can likely help a team as a fourth safety, if not in a more pronounced role. He strikes as a middle round pick (3-6) that might do well in a specific system favoring his traits.