Bucs rookie Jamel Dean gets redemption with fourth-quarter interception

TAMPA — Rookie cornerback Jamel Dean had his first NFL touchdown gift wrapped for him.

Dolphins quarterback Josh Rosen looked left and lofted a throw right at Dean, who had nothing but green between him and the end zone. But the wet ball slipped through his hands.

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Dean didn’t play in the preseason opener against the Steelers a week earlier because of a hamstring injury, so Friday was his first opportunity to show what he could do in a game. And that dropped interception was a lost opportunity.

The third-round draft pick found redemption in the fourth quarter, picking off Jake Rudock in the end zone.

“When the ball was in the air, I was just like, ‘I cannot drop this one,’ ” Dean said.

Dean paid the price for the drop.

“We told him to switch gloves at halftime because those gloves weren’t any good,” Arians said. “And he came up with a huge one.”

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“We kind of messed with him about the dropped pick,” rookie linebacker Devin White said. "And (Arians) said, ‘Hey, that’s okay, he’s going to make up for it.’ ”

Dean’s interception is the Bucs’ only one in two preseason games.

The Bucs followed it by driving 80 yards for their only touchdown and a 13-6 lead.

“It felt like a weight off my shoulders because I really beat myself up on the sideline knowing that I dropped something,” Dean said.

Contact Eduardo A. Encina at eencina@tampabay.com. Follow @EddieInTheYard.