FAB 3. Play-making Winfield Adds Versatility To Bucs

I said it before the 2020 NFL Draft: Bucs general manager Jason Licht loves drafting safeties.

Licht has now selected a safety before the fifth round in each of the last four drafts. It began in 2017 with picking Justin Evans in the second round, followed by the selection of Jordan Whitehead in the fourth round in 2018. Last year, the Bucs drafted Mike Edwards in the third round before selecting Minnesota’s Antoine Winfield, Jr. in the second round this year.

Bucs GM Jason Licht & Director of College Scouting Mike Biehl – Photo by: Eric Dellaratta/PR

If Evans had not succumbed to foot injuries that required surgery and cost him his 2019 season there’s a chance Licht doesn’t draft Winfield – or perhaps any other safety at all – this year. When healthy, Evans is a quality starter with play-making potential. 

While Tampa Bay remains optimistic that Evans’ career isn’t over and that he’ll be in the competition this summer during training camp, I’ll believe it when I see it. Foot injuries can be tricky to fully recover from in football.

What I like about Licht’s approach is to flood the position with competition via the draft to keep looking for upgrades until the Bucs find the best two starting-caliber safeties. Licht, director of player personnel John Spytek and director of college scouting Mike Biehl used a similar tactic at the cornerback position, knowing that not every draft pick pans out.

Tampa Bay drafted Vernon Hargreaves III in the first round and Ryan Smith in the fourth round in 2016 and then selected a pair of cornerbacks in the second round in 2018 in M.J Stewart and Carlton Davis. The Bucs then added Sean Murphy-Bunting in the second round last year, in addition to Jamel Dean in the third round. That strategy paid off as Hargreaves and Stewart proved they weren’t worthy of being starters, yet Davis, Dean and Murphy-Bunting did, and have bright futures ahead of them.

“You don’t have five first-round picks every year,” Biehl said. “So you have to draft for depth and we’ve done a good job of bringing in players at those positions in the secondary to create competition. The cream rises to the top. We did invest a first-round pick in Vernon a few years ago, but it hasn’t been first-rounders. It’s bringing in guys that have traits that we think can develop and be good players with Davis, Dean and Murphy-Bunting that we brought in recently – they are all big, long, fast and athletic corners.

“We all think they have a chance to be really good players and it has helped us develop competition. It’s been good as a whole, and I think it’s the same way with the safeties.”

Bucs S Antoine Winfield Jr. – Photo courtesy of Buccaneers

Winfield, Jr., who is the son of former NFL cornerback Antoine Winfield, was a four-year starter at Minnesota where he racked up 172 tackles, seven tackles for loss, nine interceptions, six passes defensed, four sacks, three fumble recoveries, two forced fumbles and scored two defensive touchdowns. Injuries limited him to just four games in each of his second and third seasons, but his last year with the Golden Gophers was brilliant as he notched 83 tackles, seven interceptions, 3.5 tackles for loss, three sacks, two forced fumbles and scored one defensive TD. Winfield is a hard-hitter and a sure-tackler.

“In the scouting world some people don’t like doing safeties because it can get kind of boring,” Spytek said. “Sometimes they are deep and not always involved in the play, but I’ve always enjoyed doing safeties because I think good safeties show themselves to you right away. They just find a way to be involved in everything. I’m not sure why it happens that way or why the ball finds them, but it finds them over and over again – or they find the ball. That was pretty clear when you put on Antoine’s tape.”

If Winfield were 6-foot, 203 pounds or even 5-foot-11 instead of his actual height at 5-foot-9, he wouldn’t have been there for the Bucs to take with the 45th overall pick, especially after running the 4.45 time he put up at the NFL Scouting Combine. In fact, Winfield might have even been a first-round pick if he were two to three inches taller.

“Yeah, you’d like him to be a bit taller, but he’s fast, he’s a good athlete and he’s explosive,” Spytek said. “The thing that stands out about safeties is they have to look at so much and process so much information because they really see everything that is in front of them. You’ve got to be able to have great instincts to be a great player at that position. I think it’s true of every great safety that you’ve ever seen. This kid checks that box in spades.

“Then we interviewed him at the Combine and he’s a great kid with energy – very bright. In an 18-minute interview you can just see the depth of football knowledge and I’m sure a lot of it comes from his dad, who was a great, great player in this league. We’re thrilled to get him and add him to the competition in that room. We have a lot of young guys there that we’re excited about and I think it will be fun to see them compete.”

One of the things the Bucs love about Winfield is his versatility to play multiple positions.

“It’s hard to find guys that are as versatile as he is,” Biehl said. “You’ve heard people throw out Tyrann Mathieu and Budda Baker and guys like that. He’s got a lot to prove to become one of those guys, but we think he has the traits and a lot of similarities to them.”

Spytek agreed.

“Antoine probably wouldn’t say he’s a nickel, but he can also go up and do some of that stuff in the box, over the slot receiver and play it at a pretty high level,” Spytek said. “His versatility from free to strong to nickel was also an intriguing addition to his player profile.”

The guess here is that Winfield gets his first look at free safety due to his range and ball skills, but as Spytek points out, today’s safeties in the NFL need to be interchangeable.

“That’s a better question for [Bucs defensive coordinator] Todd [Bowles],” Spytek said. “I think he can do a lot. I don’t get too caught up these days in the traditional free and strong because the way offenses are these days they can dictate it in a heartbeat. They can make your strong your free, so you have to find guys that can do both otherwise the offense is going to start dictating the match-ups and you’re going to have problems if your guys are very typical strong or free. With New Orleans, if they know we only have one guy that can do strong and one guy that can do free it creates problems for us.”

Bucs S Antoine Winfield – Photo courtesy of Minnesota

I could see Winfield and Edwards as the team’s starting safeties when the dust settles after training camp. Those two safeties have the best ball skills. Even though Edwards didn’t record an interception as a rookie, he had 10 picks as a four-year starter in Kentucky, including four as a junior in 2017.

The lack of interceptions from the safety position was a real concern for the Bucs. The quartet of Edwards, Whitehead, Andrew Adams and Darian Stewart combined for just two INTs last year.

“Anytime you are looking at defensive backs – whether it’s corners or safeties – that’s one of the top factors you’re looking at in terms of getting the ball back for you,” Biehl said. “It’s not just catching the ball and having good hands and ball skills. It’s being in position to make the play. Antoine is pretty exceptional in all those areas, and it’s contagious, right? I think when you start getting takeaways – whether it’s picks or forced fumbles – it’s contagious to the whole defense. You hope that the more guys you add like that rubs off on everybody else.”

Speaking of interceptions, Winfield’s end zone pick against Fresno State at the one-minute mark of the the highlight reel below is absolutely stunning, and one of the best INTs I’ve ever seen. This kid has real star potential and is going to be fun to watch in red and pewter over the coming years.

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