Antoine Winfield Jr.

Career StatsB-

Year	Team	GP	INT	PD	Tkl
Career		85	9	38	537
2025		17	2	8	93
2024		9	0	3	60
2023		17

Current Contract

Contract Value Index (CVI)

The Buccaneers handed Antoine Winfield Jr. a $21M AAV extension that registers as a slight overpay, earning a B- CVI despite his proven impact in Tampa's secondary. While Winfield has established himself as a solid starter with playmaking ability and versatility to cover slot receivers and provide run support, paying him elite safety money stretches the value proposition for a player who hasn't quite reached that upper tier of production. At 26, he's entering his prime years, which provides some upside to grow into the contract, but the $45M guaranteed represents significant risk for a safety position where elite production can be volatile year-to-year. The four-year structure gives Tampa reasonable flexibility while locking up a key defensive piece, though they're banking on Winfield elevating his game to justify being paid among the top safeties in the league. This deal reflects the Bucs' commitment to maintaining their championship window, even if it means paying a premium for proven but not elite production at a position where value can typically be found at lower price points.

Performance Analysis

Antoine Winfield Jr. is a third-round pick out of Minnesota who has grown into one of the more versatile and trusted safeties in the NFC, now entering his sixth professional season with 85 career games of experience anchoring the Tampa Bay secondary. At his best, Winfield has functioned as a chess piece — capable of playing deep, in the box, and as a blitzer — and his A- grade in 2023 reflected a player operating near the top tier of the position. This season, however, carries a B- overall grade, a modest step back from the B- he posted in 2024 and a more significant dip from his 2023 peak, suggesting a player in a slight but meaningful downward trend that warrants monitoring. He remains a starter-caliber safety with legitimate impact plays on his résumé, but the current snapshot is not representative of his career ceiling. The clearest bright spot this season is Winfield's playmaking in coverage, where his 0.47 pass deflections per game sits well above the NFL average of 0.30 and puts him in the conversation with the game's more disruptive defensive backs, even if it falls short of the elite threshold of 0.60. His tackling presence is equally notable — 5.47 stops per game exceeds the league average of 3.85, reflecting his willingness to come downhill and play physically near the line of scrimmage in a way that few coverage safeties can match. The primary concern this season is his interception rate, which at 0.12 per game falls below the NFL average of 0.16 and is a significant distance from the elite benchmark of 0.29, indicating that while Winfield is disrupting passes, he is not converting those opportunities into turnovers at the rate you would expect from a player of his caliber. That ball-hawking deficiency has been the difference between a good season and a great one. Looking ahead, Winfield is still just 27 years old with enough athleticism and football IQ to reverse this trend, and the key developmental storyline entering next season will be whether he can rediscover the turnover instincts that made his 2023 campaign so impressive. If Tampa Bay's scheme continues to deploy him near the line of scrimmage, his tackle numbers will remain strong, but unlocking his ceiling as a difference-maker requires him to close the gap on that interception rate. A return to A-range grades is not out of the question, but it will demand a more consistent finishing touch on the plays he is already getting his hands on.

Current Sentiment

Antoine Winfield Jr. enters the 2026 season riding a wave of positive momentum, highlighted by a standout interception against Joe Burrow at the Pro Bowl that reinforced his status as one of the premier safeties in the NFL. His career retrospective coverage signals that the media views him as a player who has already compiled a meaningful body of work, with nine career interceptions and 38 passes defended underscoring his consistent impact in Tampa Bay's secondary. A notable strip-pick of Chris Olave further demonstrated his playmaking versatility and ability to generate turnovers in critical moments, keeping him firmly in the national conversation. Off the field, a heartwarming story involving his fiancée Teesa Mpagi assisting a woman struck by a car has contributed to a genuinely positive public image that extends beyond football. Heading into 2026, Winfield Jr. is perceived as a well-compensated, high-character defensive cornerstone whose reputation is trending upward both on and off the field.