The Bucs made Antoine Winfield Jr. the best paid security within the NFL this low season. They did it for good motive too. Winfield had a prolific 2023 the place he amassed 122 tackles, six sacks, six pressured fumbles, 4 fumble recoveries, 12 passes defensed and three interceptions en path to an All-Professional nod. And on the again of that season extra justification is coming in for Winfield’s contract.
Bucs FS Antoine Winfield Jr. – Picture by: Cliff Welch/PR
Professional Soccer Focus, in considered one of their newest positional rating articles lists Winfield because the #1 security within the NFL. Right here is how the location justified their rating.
“Winfield, who turned the NFL’s highest-paid defensive again this offseason, was the highest-graded security within the league final season (90.7). The 25-year-old’s 92.0 PFF total grade over the previous three seasons leads the place, and his run-defense and pass-rush grades rank first amongst safeties, too.”
Winfield moved up three spots on PFF’s annual record after rating 4th on it this time final yr.
Bucs Security Can Do It All
Winfield is finest recognized for being a roving top-down free security. It’s his finest trait and what helps set him and the Bucs protection aside. In an age the place so many defenses attempt to function primarily from a two-high C2/C4 shell, Winfield’s capacity to cowl a lot floor from a single-hi look offers head coach Todd Bowles free-range to maintain seven, and generally even eight, defenders within the field.
This helps Bowles regularly pummel opposing offenses with disguised and unique blitz and sim stress appears to be like. Final yr Winfield allowed simply 0.64 yards per protection rep in zone final yr whereas rating tied for 1st in pressured incompletions (6) and tied for seventh in pressured incompletion proportion (20%) amongst all qualifying safeties.
Past his skills taking part in deep, Winfield can line up anyplace and nonetheless be a drive. He performed 93 snaps within the slot final yr for the Bucs. Focused simply 9 instances, his targets per snap (10.3) ranked seventh amongst all safeties. The writeup referenced Winfield’s elite play as a run defender and a cross rush. However so as to add some further context to these grades, he solely missed 7.9% of his sort out makes an attempt whereas registering 27 defensive stops and generated 20 pressures in simply 64 cross rushes.
Winfield Receives Some Assist In 2024
Former Bucs S Jordan Whitehead – Picture by: Cliff Welch/PR
What could also be most spectacular is that Winfield Jr. was capable of do all of that regardless of working with a beneath common operating mate within the defensive backfield. Free agent addition Ryan Neal was not the welcome addition the Bucs hoped they had been getting after signing him late within the offseason coming off of a formidable 2022 marketing campaign. As an alternative, Neal struggled in protection, along with his pursuit angles, and customarily understanding Bowles’ protection. By the tip of the season, he was often being substituted out for Zyon McCollum, Dee Delaney and Kaevon Merriweather.
Neal’s struggles usually pressured Winfield to should do extra and compensate to assist the protection perform correctly. This yr the Bucs are hoping they’ll take a few of that off of their All-Professional’s plate by reuniting with former Buc Jordan Whitehead.
Whitehead, who performed for Tampa Bay from 2018 to 2021, left by way of free company and spent two seasons with the Jets. Throughout his first stint with the Bucs Whitehead confirmed a robust grasp for the protection whereas working as among the finest field safeties within the NFL. He expanded his skillset in New York by working in a two-hi scheme that showcased extra of his zone protection. That mixture ought to assist unlock much more in each safeties going ahead. And after his historic 2023, it’s scary to suppose that Winfield might be able to elevate his sport in 2024.
