New Bucs safety Antoine Winfield Jr. was drafted in the second round with the 45th overall pick by Tampa Bay. Safety was a position of need for the Bucs’ defense, and he helps fill a void on day two of the draft.

Known for his versatility, Winfield feels that he can be utilized in a number of different ways to help the Bucs.

“I can play pretty much anywhere,” Winfield said. “I can play on tight ends, slot receivers, I can blitz, I can play in the post, my versatility is my biggest asset and I feel like Tampa Bay is gonna use me well that way.”

Bucs defensive coordinator Todd Bowles knows how to put players in the best position to succeed, and Winfield has an idea where he would best fit in the Bucs defense.

“I want to say the free safety position or the nickel position,” Winfield said, “I feel like both of those positions there, I’m versatile. Like I said before, playing in the post, play down in the box, make tackles and I feel like being a free safety or nickel is the right fit for me on the defense.”

Winfield Jr. has football in his blood. His father, Antoine Sr., had a 14-year career in the NFL with the Bills and Vikings, which Winfield Jr. got to see and learn from firsthand at an early age.

“It helped in every way possible,” Winfield said of learning the game from his dad. “Growing up I would watch him do things and play football, just little advice he would give me. He would take me out to the backyard and we’d do football drills, sweating on things on need to work on, watching film together, he started me off at an early age so I feel like that just helped me and developed me more faster than other kids at that time.”

Winfield recalls starting football drills as early as six years old. But it’s information that he got off the field that will help as well.

“Any questions that I need,” Winfield said. “He has 14 years of NFL experience so he pretty much a whole bunch of information stored in his head about football that I try to use all the time.”

Antoine Winfield Jr. – Photo courtesy of Buccaneers

It’s been a long road for Winfield to make the NFL. He missed all but eight games over two seasons in 2017-2018 due to season ending foot injuries, but fought his way back to become a Bronko Nagurski Award finalist last year with Minnesota.

“I battled with some injuries, it was tough going through those but at the end of the day I kept working hard and put my head down and made it here today. I’m just blessed and excited to join the Bucs.”

As a captain in 2019 with the Golden Gophers, he has leadership qualities that he’d like to bring into the locker room with the Bucs.

“That’s the goal,” Winfield said. “To come in there and just make a big impact on the team. Try to lift up as many people as I can and just bring positivity. I would say my game is very versatile, I can play anywhere on the field, I can tackle well, I got great range from sideline to sideline, I’m just excited.” 

Winfield’s in a unique situation where the Bucs’ have become a Super Bowl contender rather quickly, and now he’s part of that. And that’s the situation he wants to be in.

“That means everything,” Winfield said. “I was actually talking to my dad about that, he was talking about the players that they had. I’m just ready to be that additional piece to help hopefully win a Super Bowl this year, so I’m just extremely excited.