The Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Antoine Winfield Jr. have reached agreement on a four-year, $84.1 million deal, agent David Mulugheta told ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Monday.
The deal makes Winfield the highest-paid defensive back in NFL history — the first time in modern NFL history that a safety has set this mark.
Winfield’s deal includes $45 million guaranteed, the most ever given to a safety.
The Buccaneers have focused on re-signing their own star players this offseason. Besides Winfield, quarterback Baker Mayfield (three years, $100 million), wide receiver Mike Evans (two years, $41 million) and linebacker Lavonte David (one year, $8.5 million) have also re-signed with Tampa Bay.
Winfield had received the franchise tag from the Buccaneers in March. Nine players received the franchise or transition tag from their teams this offseason and Winfield becomes the eighth to agree to a long-term contract.
Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins is the only player who received the franchise tag to not yet agree to a long-term deal. Higgins, who requested a trade, but has said he expects to play in Cincinnati this season, has until July 15 to agree to a long-term contract or will have to play the 2024 season on the franchise tender.
Winfield, who was named a team captain this past season for the first time in his career, turned in one of the finest performances of any defensive player 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 six tackles for a loss, 12 passes defended, 6 sacks, 8 quarterback hits and 3 interceptions.
His 1,100 snaps in 2023 were more than any other defensive player on the team. For Winfield Jr.’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 an immediate Day 1 starter at safety, before switching to nickelback in 2022 and 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.
ESPN’s Jenna Laine contributed to this report.
Daniel Miller is a sports fanatic who lives and breathes athletics. His coverage spans from major league championships to local sports events, delivering up-to-the-minute updates and in-depth analysis for sports enthusiasts.
