PatriotMaven Scouting Profile: Antoine Winfield Jr.

The son of Antoine Winfield, Antoine Winfield Jr., could help replace an aging Patrick Chung.

In terms of potential prospects for the New England Patriots, Antoine Winfield Jr. might be one of my favorites. Now, I emphasize the "Jr." because some may remember his father having a successful career in the NFL. Antoine Winfield played for both the Buffalo Bills and Minnesota Vikings, earning three Pro Bowl selections in his 14-year career. 

However, aside from his father, "Junior" is ready to go and make a name for himself. Winfield was the face of the University of Minnesota defense during his four years there. Winfield became that face with his instincts and smarts, using them to be involved in every play and get his face and nose constantly near the ball. 

Let's look at what else makes Winfield Jr. a special player:

Man coverage skills

-  Winfield is strong in man coverage. Great shadow defender. Winfield can cover a lot of different body types 1-on-1 and do it well. He's a strong man defender that can cover tight ends especially. 

Zone coverage skills

- Zone coverage his where his elite instincts really get to shine. Winfield is a guy who can play single high or some Cover 2 with two high safeties. Not much gets passed this guy. 

Ball skills 

- Winfield is a playmaker/ballhawk in this department. He has strong hands and can undercut balls to make quarterbacks pay. He exhibits great ball tracking. There are some concerns about winning jump balls, but this department is overall pretty good for him.

- Winfield collected nine total turnovers this last season. Among those were seven interceptions and two fumble recoveries.  

Tackling 

- Winfield's tackling is pretty sound. He lays the stick a few times on tape, which is encouraging. His run fills from the second level are nice, along with his pursuit angles. Missed tackles show up, but were about average among safeties in college. 

Instincts

- Winfield is a quick processor. He can quickly identify the pass and run. Winfield reads route concepts really well, which opens the door for him to make plays on the ball. Really strong football IQ. Winfield's instincts are easily his most impressive trait and he might run away with the best instincts among this year's safety class. 

Versatility 

Winfield's snaps by alignment by PFF. Mostly a free safety but can play multiple places

- As you can see from the chart by PFF, Winfield played many places, but he mostly played the free safety position. That has to do with two factors: 1) his size limits where he can be placed on the field sometimes 2) Winfield was one of the best players on Minnesota and to move him around and out of free safety would have created a hole there. More opportunities should come about at the next level to play in more spots. 

Athleticism 

- His athleticism is a big question mark. Although he did run a 4.48 40-yard dash, many scouts shrug at Winfield's athleticism and view it as nothing special. Scouts and the media especially question his burst and range. The 40-yard dash may have helped his case against the burst critique. Not much he can do about the range critique now. 

Size

- Scouts and the media seem to have a hard time getting on board with his size. Winfield is rather smaller. 5-foot-10, 205-pounds is a little lower than it should be and it could limit him to smaller targets. However, that remains to be seen. Questions are out there about how his size could impact his versatility. 

Film

This is one of my favorite plays out of anyone in this draft process. The game is on the line, Winfield reads run at first, realizes he read wrong, gets back to his man to make the game-sealing interception. Outstanding recovery to a mistake that could have ended very badly. He displays good athleticism to jump and make that play too. 

Winfield looks like the late Sean Taylor flying down the field here. You have to admire not just the quick processing here but also the willingness to come up and play the run. Winfield sprints 12 yards to go up and make this tackle with plenty of help in the area. He cuts off what could have been a six-yard gain into a three-yard gain. 

Funny enough, a year later, Winfield would close the game out against Fresno State again. Both times in coverage against tight ends. Winfield is an incredible playmaker and he shines when the game is on the line

Fit

Winfield can start by covering tight ends with the Patriots. That would be a big help to this group after Patrick Chung struggled with that task last year. 

Winfield and Chung are two different players. They do a lot of things differently. However, at the same time they have a lot in common. Winfield could learn behind Chung and try and fit into his role when Chung decides to hang up his cleats. He also is a guy who doesn't allow to many things to get passed him. With a defense that allowed a couple big plays last year, Winfield might help strengthen the Patriots' Cover 0 strategy that can either hit big time or turn into a big touchdown. Winfield can prevent the latter from happening.