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BY IRA KAUFMAN
@ikaufman76

Antoine Winfield Jr. is returning to the land of immortals.

It’s exalted territory, otherwise known as center field. It’s the place Willie Mays, Mickey Mantle, Joe DiMaggio, Ken Griffey Jr. and Mike Trout called home. It’s where Ed Reed and Brian Dawkins launched their Pro Football Hall of Fame careers.

You should have seen the grin on Winfield’s face this week when he talked about returning to the land of giants after a brief experiment engineered by Todd Bowles.

Antoine Winfield, Jr.

The Bucs asked Winfield to play quite a bit of nickel cornerback last season and the results didn’t quite match the expectations.

While Winfield didn’t play poorly in the slot, he wasn’t exceptional. Bowles and safeties coach Nick Rapone believe this former second-round pick has the tools to be exceptional, so Winfield is going back to center field to track footballs and hopefully emerge as a game-changer.

It’s not a stretch to suggest Winfield is already established as Tampa Bay’s most accomplished defensive back. He’s been especially good in the playoffs, posting 39 stops, three tackles for loss, one interception, two forced fumbles and one fumble recovery in six games.

“He gets better mentally every year,” Bowles says. “His tackling is outstanding. His intensity is outstanding, what he does for the team is outstanding. I think he’s one of our top three defensive players and he can only get better with experience.”

Winfield turns 25 in August and he’s entering the final year of his rookie contract. Everyone at One Buc Place knows he’s a keeper, so Winfield isn’t going anywhere. If the Bucs can’t work out a long-term extension by the spring, Winfield will likely be franchised.

There’s no way this organization lets him sniff free agency.

His current $3 million base salary represents a bargain in NFL terms. Winfield was the fourth safety off the draft board in 2020, following Xavier McKinney, Kyle Duggar and Grant Delfit. Guess who has made the Pro Bowl out of that quartet? Only Winfield. He has registered nine sacks — the three safeties who went before him have one sack apiece.

One Bad Number

Still, there is one aspect missing from Winfield’s game … a big one.

In 42 regular-season games, he has only four interceptions. Including the postseason, he’s gone the past 20 games with just one pick.

For a former NFL safety like Bowles, that’s not good enough. For a veteran assistant like Rapone, it’s not nearly good enough.

A dirty-work player, says Winfield’s position coach.

“He’s just a blue-collar guy,” Rapone says. “The one thing with Winfield where I challenged him this year is: run support wise, you’re beautiful and you’re beautiful in a lot of areas, but let’s start getting six and seven interceptions a year. Let’s make that the next step. The real good players love to get challenged. We know you can blitz, we know you can tackle, we know you can pass-defend. Let’s get the football a little more.”

The nickel back role is up for grabs this summer, but Winfield’s out of the mix. At free safety, he’ll survey the field, look for his defensive keys and try to jump routes. He showcased his ball skills during his final year at Minnesota, picking off seven passes in 12 games.

The 2023 Buc season begins in Minneapolis, where Antoine Winfield Sr. will be on hand to see if his son can hijack a Kirk Cousins pass or two from his post in center field.

“I’ll try to leave him at one spot as best I can,” Bowles says. “I think he’ll master that spot and get even better for us.”

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