TAMPA, Fla. -- The Buccaneers placed the franchise tag on All-Pro safety Antoine Winfield Jr. on Tuesday
The Bucs were attempting to work out a deal with Winfield and will use this as a placeholder for a long-term contract, sources said. The Bucs did this with wide receiver Chris Godwin in 2022, first franchise-tagging him before the deadline and then striking a new deal days later.
If Winfield were to play the 2024 season on the franchise tag, his salary would be $17.1 million, fully guaranteed.
"[Winfield had] one of the best seasons I've seen a safety have as an all-around player, and it wasn't just in the game -- it was in practice as well," coach Todd Bowles said at the NFL scouting combine last week. "He was the only guy -- even if we were practicing red zone -- if he picked the ball off at the 5[-yard line], he's going to run 95 yards and go back in the game. He's not going to take himself out and go to the water buckets. If he picked it off in the end zone, he ran 100 yards. Wherever he picked the ball at or caused the fumble at, he transferred practice to the game ... almost better than anybody I've been around the past couple years."
Winfield, who was named a team captain this past season for the first time, turned in one of the finest defensive performances in the league in 2023 -- tying for a league-leading six forced fumbles and four fumble recoveries, joining Haason Reddick as the only players to accomplish this feat since at least 2000.
He registered 122 tackles -- fourth-most among all league defensive backs and second-most on the team -- with 6 tackles for a loss, 12 passes defended, 6 sacks, 8 quarterback hits and 3 interceptions.
His 1,100 snaps in 2023 was more than any other defensive player on the team. For Winfield's efforts, he was named first-team All-Pro.
A second-round pick in the 2020 NFL draft, he is the son of former Pro Bowl, All-Pro and Jim Thorpe Award-winning cornerback Antoine Winfield Sr. and became a day one starter at safety before switching to nickelback in 2022, then back to safety in 2023. He registered a forced fumble of Drew Brees in the Bucs' divisional playoff win over the New Orleans Saints in 2020 and intercepted Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes in Super Bowl LV.
In the 2021 wild-card round of the playoffs, Winfield sacked Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts for a 5-yard loss. In the divisional playoff game against the Los Angeles Rams, he forced and recovered a Cam Akers fumble.
Winfield, 25, has 122 tackles, 15 sacks, 11 forced fumbles and 7 interceptions in 59 career games.
Also Tuesday, the Bucs re-signed offensive tackle Brandon Walton and wide receiver Deven Thompkins to one-year deals. Both were set to become exclusive rights free agents.