Are Bucs Moving Winfield To A New Position?

Antoine Winfield, Jr. won a Super Bowl in his rookie season with the Bucs in 2020. In his second season, he made the Pro Bowl as a safety.

Now, Winfield may – or may not – be moving to nickel cornerback. Winfield spent a good deal of time in the slot covering slot receivers during the first week of training camp while safeties Logan Ryan and Mike Edwards were also on the field. But Winfield also saw time at free safety and came away with an interception on Tom Brady.

Head coach and defensive play-caller Todd Bowles likes his defensive backs to have versatility. In year three, Winfield seems to be more versatile than ever with a heavy dose of nickel cornerback reps to start camp.

“It’s a different transition, a different feel, but I’m loving it,” Winfield told Pewter Report. “That’s where the action is, and I just like being wherever the action’s at.”

It’s too soon to tell if Winfield’s move to slot cornerback is permanent, or if Bowles just wants to use camp to experiment and see how Winfield fares inside. Winfield has played some in the slot before. He has five career sacks in two years that have come from the slot. The Bucs appear to like Winfield’s physicality inside. Both he and fellow starting safety Mike Edwards have seen action in the slot in games before.

Bucs S Antoine Winfield, Jr. and former Saints TE Jared Cook – Photo by: USA Today

Winfield did get beat in the slot by Rams receiver Cooper Kupp for a 44-yard bomb that set up L.A.’s game-winning kick in the playoffs last year. But in the 2020 playoffs, Winfield forced a key fumble when covering Saints tight end Jared Cook in the slot.

Sean Murphy-Bunting was the team’s nickel cornerback for most of last year when he was on the field, and for much of the 2020 season. Yet, he has lined up exclusively outside at right cornerback, where he has started ahead of Jamel Dean during the first week of camp this year.

Is Murphy-Bunting ahead of Dean on the depth chart? Or do the coaches just want to see how Murphy-Bunting fares with the starters on the outside?

It will be interesting to see if Murphy-Bunting’s switch to outside cornerback is permanent or if he’ll get another look inside back in the slot. Time will tell as camp rolls on.

Last season, Dean beat out Murphy-Bunting for the starting role in base defense. That relegated Murphy-Bunting inside whenever he took the field. Both Dean and Murphy-Bunting are entering contract years in 2022.

Winfield is two years away from a new contract – and a big pay day, especially because he’s as versatile as ever.

– J.C. Allen contributed to this report