It took a while, but justice has been served.
Just weeks after being an egregious Pro Bowl snub, Bucs free safety Antoine Winfield Jr. has been named first-team All-Pro.
Winfield definitely deserves his first All-Pro nod after the season he had.
The Bucs’ fourth-year safety recorded career highs in several categories, including tackles. His 122 tackles (76 solo), were the second-most on the team this season. Winfield also had six sacks, which led all defensive backs in the league this year, along with an NFL-high six forced fumbles. The former second-round pick also had four fumble recoveries, three interceptions and 12 passes defensed.
Winfield’s scenario and the way it has played out is very reminiscent of Tampa Bay linebacker Lavonte David’s 2013 season where he was snubbed for the Pro Bowl despite racking up 145 (107) tackles, seven sacks, five interceptions, two forced fumbles, one fumble recovery, 10 pass breakups and one safety. Thankfully, David did make first-team All-Pro that year.
Antoine Winfield Jr. Has Racked Up Several Honors This Season
Antoine Winfield Jr.’s All-Pro honor is the latest of many the talented safety has received after a historic season in Tampa Bay. Winfield became the first defensive back in Bucs history to earn Defensive Player of the Month and the eighth player overall.
He adds this honor to his two Defensive Player of the Week Awards from this year and his NFC Defensive Rookie of the Month Award from September of 2020. Winfield was also the team’s Walter Payton Man of the Year nominee for 2023.
The 25-year-old has been a playmaker and difference-maker since he first entered the league in 2020 during Tampa Bay’s Super Bowl LV season, but he stepped up to a new level in 2023.
Winfield’s 91.2 overall grade from Pro Football Focus was the best among safeties, plus he topped the position in terms of run defense grade (92.5) and pass rush grade (92.7 – tied with Baltimore’s Kyle Hamilton). He also posted an 85.3 coverage grade and an 86.1 tackling mark.
Winfield made PFF’s 2023 All-Pro Team, and he was named as NFL Network’s Good Morning Football’s Jason McCourty’s defensive back of the year this season.
Antoine Winfield Jr. Is Having One Heck Of A Contract Year
All accolades aside, this has been quite the year for Antoine Winfield Jr. It was a contract year for him, and he had exactly the type of season a player would dream of as he enters free agency. The Bucs certainly won’t let him get all the way to the open market, though, as he has earned a long-term contract to be a staple of Tampa Bay’s defense for years to come.
Winfield was also a first-time captain in 2023, providing leadership for a defense that desperately needed it. Linebacker Lavonte David has long been the leader of the defense and still is, but it helps for the Bucs to have a young leader who is ready to assume that role when David calls it quits, presumably in the next year or two.
Of course, David is no stranger to being a Pro Bowl and All-Pro snub himself at times during his tenure in Tampa Bay, and it’s worth wondering whether Antoine Winfield Jr. might become that perennially underrated player that Bucs fans demand more respect for year in and year out.
– Bailey Adams contributed to this report
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