Tampa Bay Buccaneers reach long-term extension with All-Pro safety Antoine Winfield, Jr. on Monday

The deal is reported to be for 4 years at $84.1 million with $48 million guaranteed.  That comes in at an average annual value of just over $21 million per season.  That eclipses the previous top annual contract value by j$2 million dollars.  The previous high was $19 million/year by Derwin James, who signed a $76.5 million contract extension with the Chargers back in August 2022.  $19 million to $21 million is pretty substantial jump as far as top of the market deals.  

But hey, that's the price you pay for a player that had a historically good season in 2023.  Winfield, Jr. was the only player since 1999 (when stats became available) that tallied 100+ tackles, 3+ interceptions, 3+ forced fumbles, 3+ fumbles recoveries, and 3+ sacks in a season.  All he did was make impact plays, and the Buccaneers absolutely aren't in the playoffs without him. 

As such, the deal was certainly a warranted one.  And it was a bit of an outlier in the NFL free agent market landscape for this offseason.  Until today, the top deal this offseason had been Xavier McKinney, who signed a 4-year, $68.5 million deal with the Green Bay Packers back in March ($16.750 million average annual value).  

Other teams have been unwilling to sign many of the top remaining free agent names on the market, including Justin Simmons, Quandre Diggs, Eddie Jackson, and Jamal Adams.  And the ones that have signed outside of McKinney haven't been near the top of the market in value (Kevin Byard $7.5 million AAV to the Bears; Chauncey Gardner-Johnson $9 million AAV to the Eagles). 

However, this contract was a no brainer for the Buccaneers, who simply had to keep their best defender in the building.  And they did just that by paying him what he proved unequivocally he was worth during the 2023 season.