Buccaneers' Winfield Focused on Sharpening Mental Side of Game
As a rookie, Buccaneers safety Antoine Winfield Jr. took the league by storm, creating three turnovers and tallying nearly 100 tackles in his first pro season while starting all 16 games.
Entering his second year in Tampa Bay and the pros, Winfield Jr. is expected to continue making plays on the backend of the Bucs' defense. His physical skillset will certainly factor into that equation, but as Winfield shared after training camp practice on Thursday, his focus has primarily centered around the mental side of the game and continuing to learn the system in order to become even more impactful.
"I feel like my most improvement is just mentally,' Winfield said. "That first year, they throw so many things out at you just learning the scheme and things like that. But after being in the system for a year, I just feel like mentally my game is just sharper and a little bit better than last year so that’s where I feel the best at.”
Defensive coordinator Todd Bowles agrees with Winfield's approach. Bowles is known to have very high expectations for each of his players, and Winfield is no different - although the turnovers and flashy plays were exciting and suggested Winfield is developing correctly, there is room for more.
Bowles acknowledged that Winfield can go beyond utilizing his athleticism to make plays across Tampa Bay's defense, and shared that he's begun to see that idea come to fruition this summer.
"We both know he left some plays out there on the field last year," Bowles said. "He's doing his job and playing his position, but he can expand on that, and he will, and he has already some in camp. Just knowing the overall defense and knowing where he can cheat and take advantage of his plays and not just use his athletic ability."
Winfield can improve from a pure coverage perspective, even considering his six pass breakups a year ago. Pro Football Focus credits Winfield with allowing 64.1 percent of his targets in coverage to be caught, an area in which further understanding of the scheme and "cheats" can lead to fewer receptions given up.
Fortunately for Winfield, his primary instructor in learning the ins and outs of Tampa Bay's defense won't be going anywhere any time soon. Bowles signed a three-year contract extension with the Buccaneers on Wednesday, news that Winfield was overjoyed to hear.
"I’m excited – as soon as I read the news I’m like, ‘Oh that’s amazing, he’s going to be here for my contract,’" Winfield said. "So I’m excited for him to be here.”
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