Can Antoine Winfield Jr. Make A Bigger Impact At FS?

All offseason we’ve heard people from the Bucs’ brass talk about Antoine Winfield Jr. moving back to his natural position of free safety this year after spending most of last season at nickel cornerback. Head coach Todd Bowles has talked about it. Jason Licht has discussed it. And even safeties coach Nick Rapone has had a conversation about Winfield’s move.

The only person we didn’t hear from yet about the change is Antoine Winfield Jr. himself  – until Tuesday.

Winfield spoke with media after the fourth OTA practice and discussed his mindset on staying at the safety position. It’s not going to be all that different for him, but going back to free safety allows him some more liberties in the secondary.

Antoine Winfield Jr. Discusses Move To Free Safety

Bucs S Antoine Winfield Jr. – Photo by: USA Today

“Middle of the field – I love it,” Antoine Winfield Jr. said. “It’s similar to what I was doing last year. I’ll probably be in the middle of the field more, so I like having that freedom to roam around that field and have that presence all over.”

While he is still playing at a Pro Bowl – if not arguably All-Pro – level, Winfield and the Bucs’ defense had a glaring struggle when taking the ball away last year. He recorded one interception in the first game of the season, but that was it for the rest of the year. As a defense, Tampa Bay only picked off the ball 10 times, which was seven less than the year prior.

More INTs Coming For Bucs?

“Definitely more, definitely more (turnovers),” Antoine Winfield Jr. said. “That’s one of the goals we’ve been trying to get better each and every year, but especially this year because we got to have more turnovers. That ultimately leads to the offense getting more opportunities with the ball and us getting better chances to win games. When the ball’s in the air it’s got to be ours.”

Moving him to free safety could just be the element to kick start the Bucs’ turnover-making ways back into high gear.

Bucs S Ryan Neal – Photo By: Matt Matera P/R

“A hundred percent because I’m more in the middle of the field,” Winfield said. “I’m able to play around and cover things a little bit differently than playing in the slot over slot receiver, so definitely.”

Antoine Winfield Jr. – Ryan Neal Tandem

Winfield, who is entering his fourth season in Tampa Bay, is suddenly the elder statesman with a new crew in the safeties room. There are a few undrafted free agents looking to make this roster, including Kaevon Merriweather, Christian Izien Jr, and Kedrick Whitehead Jr., who will be competing with holdover Nolan Turner.

The most notable new arrival is free agent signing Ryan Neal, who presumably will be starting alongside Winfield as more of a box safety. With a lot of moving parts to this defense, Winfield has welcomed having another veteran like Neal to lean on.

“Vet coming in. Smart player,” Winfield said.  “He’s a great communicator and it’s nice having him back there because he knows his stuff.”