Tampa Bay Buccaneers safety Antoine Winfield Jr. Nathan Ray Seebeck-USA TODAY Sports

Buccaneers safety responds to Pro Bowl snub by showing off other award

By Victor Barbosa | Last updated 1/10/24

Antoine Winfield Jr. was one of the most obvious Pro Bowl snubs when the selections were revealed in early January.

Instead of complaining about the oversight, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers safety showed off a different honor he recently received, one that he said "100%" makes up for the snub.

Forget the Pro Bowl Snub,⁦@AntoineWJr11⁩ is celebrating with the heavy hardware from ⁦@JasonMcCourty⁩ ⁦@gmfb⁩ named best defensive back in the NFL. #gobucs #gmfb #nfln pic.twitter.com/s63L1rG9Vl
— Sara Walsh (@Sara_Walsh) January 10, 2024

Winfield Jr. also learned Wednesday that he'd been named the NFC Defensive Player of the Week for the second time of the 2023 campaign.

Bucs S Antoine Winfield Jr was named NFC Defensive Player of the Week. He had five tackles (one for loss), 1.0 sack, one quarterback hit, and a touchdown-saving forced fumble within the 1-yard line to preserve a division-clinching 9-0 shutout win for Tampa Bay. His third-down…
— Rick Stroud (@NFLSTROUD) January 10, 2024

The 2020 second-round pick also earned the award for his Week 13 performance against the Carolina Panthers, when he helped lead the Bucs to a 21-18 victory. Winfield Jr. finished that game with six solo tackles (two tackles for loss), a career-high three passes defended, one interception and one sack.

It seems like he's well past the voter's decision regarding the NFC Pro Bowl representatives, and with Tampa Bay just five days away from their wild-card game against the Philadelphia Eagles, there are bigger concerns on his mind.

Antoine Winfield Jr on what he learned from the 1st game against the Eagles in week 3:
"What I learned is we have to stop the run. They gashed us."
Eagles racked up 201 yards on the ground that game. #gobucs #eagles #nfln #nflnetwork
— Sara Walsh (@Sara_Walsh) January 10, 2024

Winfield Jr., who was a 2021 Pro Bowler, led all Buccaneers players this season in passes defended (12), forced fumbles (six), fumble recoveries (four) and interceptions (three). He also ranked second in solo tackles (76) and sacks (6.0) among other categories.

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