Antoine Winfield Jr. is now the highest-paid safety in the history of the NFL– here’s what it means for the Buccaneers.
TAMPA, FL– Antoine Winfield Jr. just became the highest-paid safety in the history of the NFL. The All-Pro safety signed a four-year contract extension worth $84.1 million dollars that will keep him in Tampa for the foreseeable future. Winfield has consistently been one of the league’s best safeties since his entrance into the NFL in 2020.
Earlier this offseason the Buccaneers used the franchise tag on Winfield with reports saying that the two parties simply “were too far apart” for a deal to get done. The two sides eventually agreed to terms earlier today, making Winfield a near-permanent fixture on the Bucs’ defense.
The Buccaneers last year were one of the NFL’s more surprising teams, resembling much more of an enigma in the losing-struck atmosphere of the NFC South. The team made it all the way to the Divisional Round with Baker Mayfield at quarterback, ultimately losing to the Lions. The team was hyper-productive on both sides of the ball, but the defense stole the show throughout the season. The team ranked sixth in points allowed per game with 19.1. Winfield himself solidified himself as the Buccaneers’ flagship safety by earning a PFF grade of 90.1 for his defense throughout the season.
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The Buccaneers’ defense in nearly every other aspect was feast or famine. Their takeaways were middle of the pack, ranking their 26 total for 12th in the league. Winfield’s presence was a huge part of that, and his long-term viability for the team will play an important part in roster construction moving forward. The Buccaneers didn’t take a safety in the draft– presumably under the guise that Winfield would be locked up with a new deal soon at that point in time. That decision allowed them to focus their relatively limited and valuable draft capital. With only seven picks, they were able to focus on strengthening the offensive line for quarterback Baker Mayfield and bastion the defense with new toys in the cornerback and linebacker department.
PFF ranked the Bucs’ defense as up and down– with their best game being against the Jaguars in Week 16 with a 76.1 and their worst being their Week 3 matchup against the Philadelphia Eagles– scoring a measly 44.8. The 31.3 spread speaks volumes to the inconsistency of the defense– which the team hopes signing Winfield long-term can remedy. Winfield brings a sense of continuity for the Buccaneers who had 10 games above a 70 according to PFF– one of the best consistency numbers at the safety position.
The deal is structured to incentivize Winfield almost immediately with the guaranteed money being nearly all up-front. Winfield gets $24 million in 2024, $20 million of which is in bonus money. In 2025, Winfield receives $21 million. In 2026, he gets $19.5 million. In 2027, he receives $19.6 million, $1.5 million of which comes in the form of a roster bonus. Of the total amount, $45 million is fully guaranteed at signing per NBC Sports.
The Buccaneers aren’t in a rebuild year, instead they want to replicate what they accomplished just a year ago. Tampa Bay’s roster turnover rate from 2023 is the second-lowest in the league just behind the Green Bay Packers at 79.5%. Winfield’s deal allows the Buccaneers to rely on the same defense that brought them to the playoffs in the first place and will help solidify a cement base in the secondary.
