Antoine Winfield Doesn’t Play Like A Second-Round Pick
April 18th, 2021
Safety Antoine Winfield.
If NFC South wide receivers and tight ends haven’t yet figured out the Bucs have an athletic enforcer in the middle of the defense, they better get their heads straight before the season starts.
Or maybe for the Bucs’ sake they should stay stupid?
Albert Breer over at SI.com decided to seek out five rookie defensive backs not drafted in the first round last year but have played like first-round draft picks. One is Bucs safety Antoine Winfield.
Buccaneers S Antoine Winfield: A prototype Todd Bowles safety who is a moveable chess piece that flashed big-time playmaking ability in the Super Bowl champs’ secondary, Winfield should only get more dangerous with experience.
And it isn’t just in the secondary that Winfield makes plays. Go back and look at the games where Winfield makes tackles behind the line of scrimmage or gets a sack, and then tell Joe that he doesn’t look like a young Rondé Barber.
With a sledgehammer-hitting Jordan Whitehead and a center fielder who ball hawks like Winfield, Joe believes the Bucs have a fearsome pair of safeties for the foreseeable future.
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April 18th, 2021 at 12:04 am
Mike Edwards ain’t too shabby either. He just makes plays when he has the chance.
April 18th, 2021 at 12:08 am
Jordan Whitehead. Just pointing that out, I know it’s late. Awesome stuff as always Joes! Thanks!
April 18th, 2021 at 12:25 am
Swampbuc
You beat me to it…..Mike Edwards always seems to deflect a pass that someone else intercepts….he’s around the ball all the time.
April 18th, 2021 at 12:29 am
Thanks 74.
Swamp:
The way he played and logged so many snaps with the first team defense in training camp, thought he was going to start. He really had a nice season.
April 18th, 2021 at 12:34 am
The young secondary’s progression is the thing I’m most excited about.
April 18th, 2021 at 12:47 am
Gronk? Brees?
April 18th, 2021 at 2:28 am
Just think how long it took Ronde to develop into the best he became and see AWJr is already ahead of the game!
April 18th, 2021 at 4:40 am
It’s a (new) Buc’s life. Happy for him, f’ing estatic for us. 😜
April 18th, 2021 at 7:11 am
We’ve come along way since Sabby The Goat & Chris Conte
April 18th, 2021 at 7:45 am
Swampbuc Says: “Mike Edwards ain’t too shabby either. He just makes plays when he has the chance.”
Yep – Mike Edwards is ready for a breakout season. He has better coverage skill than Jordon but just isn’t there on his tackling. Nice to have a strong three deep safety position.
April 18th, 2021 at 8:25 am
Medicated Pete is right, the days of drafting the like of Sabby and a FSU kicker in the 2nd round are in the rear view mirror. Man the Bucs got a steal on Winfield at the 45th pick. Its been a long time since the Bucs have has this much key talent on the defense, this secondary can be pretty f’ing good y’all!
April 18th, 2021 at 8:34 am
It’s nice to finally say we have some stability at that position and talent. Peace Out is only going to be better next season.
April 18th, 2021 at 9:12 am
Way late on this one- but yeah, 3 great young safeties. Winfield could easily become an allpro. Hes got the skills.
I mentioned before, but wont be surprised to see us draft a big, in the box safety in the later rounds.
Adams left, so we need a 4th.
Are safeties are great, but all are a little on the smallish side.
A big thumper on running downs, would save them a lot of wear and tear.
Its cool that we have tall corners, considering the tall WR we face every year.
April 18th, 2021 at 9:14 am
With this very young Secondary having faced 3 of the best QB’s in the NFL in the Playoffs and came out on top has me as excited as I’ve ever been before for an upcoming Season ! They’re already “Battle Tested” and will only get better .GO BUCS !!!!
April 18th, 2021 at 9:53 am
I’m still not sold on cornerback Jamel Dean. He’s timid n passive. I still believe the int of ARodgers earlier in the season was a touch of luck. Others on the defense bailed him out or made up for his shortcomings. He has the size n speed for a corner but does not know how to use it. Sorry but at times JDeans looks lost n confused. The jury is still out on him.
April 18th, 2021 at 10:30 am
I’ve made this comment before but Winfield is just about as good as his dad was and it’s only his 1st season. The sky is the limit for this kid. Honestly that’s why I’m saying draft Asante Samuel jr. from what I’m hearing this guy will he better than his dad too and I’m not totally sold on SMB and dean. There still very young and hopefully they keep developing but a lot of their success is because we can rush the passer but we gotta bring in one more guy to push these guys and i believe Asante Samuel would be the best to do it. Those football bloodlines are great to have.
April 18th, 2021 at 5:10 pm
Whitehead was a great pick. I was originally worried because he’s so small. Doesn’t play like it.
April 18th, 2021 at 9:55 pm
Edwards is our best FS, Whitehead our best SS. Winfield is probably our best overall safety. The competition is great.