BuccaneersFan.com • Player Spotlight • No. 31
Photo: Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Safety • Active
Always around the football
Antoine Duane Winfield Jr.
- Born
- August 16, 1998
- Hometown
- The Woodlands, Texas
- Listed size
- 5 feet 9 inches • 203 pounds
- High school
- The Woodlands • Texas
- College
- Minnesota, 2016–2019
- NFL Draft
- 2020 • Round 2 • Pick 45
Tampa Bay Buccaneers - NFL career
- Tampa Bay, 2020–present
- Current chapter
- Seventh Buccaneers season in 2026
Team captain since 2023
Profile: Buccaneers biography, Minnesota biography and full-name reference. Honors: 2023 AP announcement and second Pro Bowl selection.
Find the football. Change the possession.
A safety has to see the whole picture and still react to the smallest opening. A quarterback holds the ball a moment too long. A receiver leaves it exposed. A pass changes direction. Antoine Winfield Jr. has built his Buccaneers story around being ready when those opportunities appear.
Tampa Bay selected him in the second round of the 2020 draft, and he became a starting safety on a championship defense. His rookie season ended with an interception of Patrick Mahomes in Super Bowl LV. Draft report • Rookie championship retrospective.
The defining individual season arrived in 2023: six sacks, six forced fumbles, three interceptions and four fumble recoveries, followed by first-team Associated Press All-Pro recognition. He could affect a play from the backfield to the goal line. 2023 All-Pro report.
The Buccaneers chapter
2020–present: impact across the defense
Winfield has started every regular-season game in which he has appeared. This overview places his defensive production alongside Tampa Bay’s team results.
| Season | G | GS | Team W–L | Tackles | Sacks | INT | FF | Season finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 16 | 16 | 11–5 | 94 | 3.0 | 1 | 2 | Super Bowl LV champions |
| 2021 | 13 | 13 | 13–4 | 88 | 2.0 | 2 | 2 | NFC South champions; lost divisional round |
| 2022 | 13 | 13 | 8–9 | 80 | 4.0 | 1 | 1 | NFC South champions; lost wild-card round |
| 2023 | 17 | 17 | 9–8 | 122 | 6.0 | 3 | 6 | NFC South champions; lost divisional round |
| 2024 | 9 | 9 | 10–7 | 60 | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | NFC South champions; lost wild-card round |
| 2025 | 17 | 17 | 8–9 | 93 | 1.0 | 2 | 1 | Missed playoffs |
| 2026 * | 5 | 5 | 3–5 | 31 | 0.0 | 0 | 1 | In progress through Week 8 |
*2026 is in progress through November 1. G = games played; GS = games started; tackles combine solo tackles and assists; SCK = sacks; INT = interceptions; FF = forced fumbles. Team W–L includes all Buccaneers games, including those Winfield missed. Swipe or scroll across tables on smaller screens; keyboard users can focus a table area and use the arrow keys.
Sources: official Buccaneers team statistics for 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025, plus the current player log.
2020–2021 A rookie ring and early recognition.
Winfield started all 16 regular-season games as a rookie and earned a place on the PFWA All-Rookie Team. He played in three of Tampa Bay’s four playoff games, returning from an ankle injury for the Super Bowl.
His first Pro Bowl selection recognized the 2021 season; he was added to the roster for the event held in early 2022. Rookie-season review • First Pro Bowl announcement.
2022–2023 A clearer view from safety.
After working at both safety and slot corner in 2022, Winfield returned to a more concentrated free-safety role in 2023. Playing from depth gave him a broad view of the offense while keeping him involved in run support and coverage.
He finished 2023 with 122 tackles and 12 passes defensed, adding the takeaways and pressure plays that helped earn his All-Pro selection. Position change • Season honors.
2024–2026 A long-term commitment and a return.
In May 2024, Tampa Bay and Winfield agreed to a four-year contract through the 2027 season. Foot and knee injuries limited his 2024 regular season to nine games.
He started all 17 games in 2025 and earned his second Pro Bowl selection. In 2026, his teammates chose him as a captain for a fourth consecutive season. Contract • 2024 injury context • Pro Bowl selection • 2026 captains.
January 7, 2024 • Bank of America Stadium
The chase that kept the shutout alive
2023 season • Week 18 • Final
9 – 0
TAMPA BAY / CAROLINA
The shutout held.
The NFC South title came home.
WINFIELD FORCES IT. DEAN RECOVERS.
Early in the second quarter, with the game still scoreless, Carolina receiver D.J. Chark caught a pass with open space ahead. Winfield raced across the field and knocked the football loose just before Chark could extend it over the goal line.
Jamel Dean recovered in the end zone for a touchback. A Panthers scoring opportunity became Buccaneers possession, and Tampa Bay went on to clinch its third consecutive NFC South title.
18.80 mph top speed
59.73 yards traveled on the play
NFL Next Gen Stats measured his speed and total tracking distance. The distance is movement during the play, separate from return-yardage statistics.
Source: the team’s Next Gen Stats analysis. This January 2024 game completed the 2023 regular season.
A football family • Minnesota • Tampa Bay
A familiar surname. A career of his own.
Learning the details early
His father, Antoine Winfield Sr., played cornerback for Buffalo and Minnesota and earned three Pro Bowl selections. In his own draft-day interview, the younger Winfield described backyard footwork sessions beginning around age five or six and learning to study film with his father.
His final college game offered an early Tampa connection: Minnesota beat Auburn in the January 1, 2020 Outback Bowl at Raymond James Stadium. A few months later, the Buccaneers made that stadium his NFL home.
Sources: Winfield’s draft-day interview and family Pro Bowl background.
Persistence at Minnesota
Winfield played for the Golden Gophers from 2016 through 2019. Injuries limited him to four appearances in each of the 2017 and 2018 seasons, before he started all 13 games in 2019.
That final season brought 88 tackles and seven interceptions, tying Minnesota’s modern-era single-season interception record. He became a unanimous All-American, first-team All-Big Ten selection and the conference’s Defensive Back of the Year.
Sources: Minnesota biography and unanimous All-America announcement.
A rookie’s Super Bowl moment
Winfield missed the NFC Championship Game with an ankle injury, then returned for Super Bowl LV on February 7, 2021. In the third quarter, he intercepted a Patrick Mahomes pass deflected by Mike Edwards.
He finished the 31–9 victory over Kansas City with six tackles and two passes defensed. A season that began with the 45th pick in the draft ended with a championship ring and a takeaway on football’s biggest stage.
Sources: championship retrospective, Super Bowl LV recap and 2020 postseason game log.
The numbers behind No. 31
Career statistics & honors
Through November 1, 2026, Winfield has made 568 regular-season tackles, 18.0 sacks, 9 interceptions and 13 forced fumbles in 90 games, all starts. His playoff record is listed separately.
| Scope | G | GS | Tackles | Sacks | PD | INT | FF | FR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Regular season, 2020–2025 | 85 | 85 | 537 | 18.0 | 38 | 9 | 12 | 10 |
| Regular season, through Nov. 1, 2026 | 90 | 90 | 568 | 18.0 | 38 | 9 | 13 | 10 |
| Postseason, 2020–2024 seasons | 9 | 9 | 51 | 1.0 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
The regular-season rows are overlapping snapshots: the current career total includes the completed 2020–2025 seasons and five appearances in 2026. Postseason totals cover the 2020–2024 seasons. FR means recovered opponent fumbles; a forced fumble does not always result in a change of possession.
Sources: the official team-season tables linked above, turnover statistics and the postseason tables linked below. Career tackle totals are the sum of the team-season TOTAL columns.
Honors on the field
- Super Bowl LV champion: 2020 season.
- AP first-team All-Pro: 2023 season.
- Pro Bowl: 2021 and 2025 seasons.
- PFWA All-Rookie Team: 2020.
Sources: team honors list, AP announcement and the Pro Bowl reports linked above. The 2026 Pro Bowl Games recognized his 2025 season.
Standout stretches
- NFL Defensive Rookie of the Month: September 2020.
- NFC Defensive Player of the Week: Weeks 13 and 18 of 2023.
- NFC Defensive Player of the Month: December 2023 / January 2024.
- Unanimous college All-American: Minnesota, 2019.
Sources: rookie award, weekly awards, monthly award and Minnesota honors.
Regular-season defense • 2020–2026
| Season | G | GS | Total | Solo | Ast | Sacks | PD | INT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 16 | 16 | 94 | 64 | 30 | 3.0 | 6 | 1 |
| 2021 | 13 | 13 | 88 | 62 | 26 | 2.0 | 6 | 2 |
| 2022 | 13 | 13 | 80 | 64 | 16 | 4.0 | 3 | 1 |
| 2023 | 17 | 17 | 122 | 76 | 46 | 6.0 | 12 | 3 |
| 2024 | 9 | 9 | 60 | 34 | 26 | 2.0 | 3 | 0 |
| 2025 | 17 | 17 | 93 | 53 | 40 | 1.0 | 8 | 2 |
| 2026 * | 5 | 5 | 31 | 20 | 11 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 |
| Career | 90 | 90 | 568 | 373 | 195 | 18.0 | 38 | 9 |
Tackles = solo tackles plus assists; SCK = sacks; PD = passes defensed; INT = interceptions. The tackle breakdown consistently follows the official Buccaneers team-season tables. *2026 is through November 1.
Sources: Buccaneers defensive tables for 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025 and the 2026 player log.
Interceptions, forced fumbles & recoveries
| Season | INT | INT yards | INT long | INT TD | FF | Opp. FR | FR TD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 1 | 16 | 16 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| 2021 | 2 | 30 | 30 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 0 |
| 2022 | 1 | 15 | 15 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 2023 | 3 | 28 | 28 | 0 | 6 | 4 | 0 |
| 2024 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 2025 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 2026 * | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Career | 9 | 94 | 30 | 0 | 13 | 10 | 1 |
INT yds and Long describe interception returns; INT TD = interception-return touchdowns; FF = forced fumbles; FR = opponent fumble recoveries; FR TD = touchdowns on fumble recoveries. A dash in Long means there were no interceptions that season. These figures are regular season only.
Winfield has recovered 10 opponent fumbles in the regular season. His first fumble-return touchdown came at New Orleans in 2024, on a 58-yard return.
Source: official interception and fumble tables and player biography. *2026 is through November 1.
Postseason defense • By NFL season
| Season | G | GS | Tackles | Sacks | PD | INT | FF | FR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 3 | 3 | 18 | 0.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 2021 | 2 | 2 | 14 | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 2022 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2023 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 0.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2024 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Career | 9 | 9 | 51 | 1.0 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
Postseason labels follow the preceding regular season: Super Bowl LV belongs to the 2020 season, although played in February 2021. Winfield missed the January 24, 2021 NFC Championship Game with an ankle injury; it is excluded from his nine playoff appearances and starts.
Sources: official team postseason statistics for 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024, plus the rookie-season availability review.
Every playoff appearance • Nine starts
| Season | Game date | Round | Opponent | Result | Tackles | Sacks | PD | INT | FF | FR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Jan. 9, 2021 | Wild Card | at Washington Football Team | W 31–23 | 6 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2020 | Jan. 17, 2021 | Divisional | at New Orleans Saints | W 30–20 | 6 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 2020 | Feb. 7, 2021 | Super Bowl LV | Kansas City Chiefs | W 31–9 | 6 | 0.0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 2021 | Jan. 16, 2022 | Wild Card | Philadelphia Eagles | W 31–15 | 5 | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2021 | Jan. 23, 2022 | Divisional | Los Angeles Rams | L 27–30 | 9 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 2022 | Jan. 16, 2023 | Wild Card | Dallas Cowboys | L 14–31 | 7 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2023 | Jan. 15, 2024 | Wild Card | Philadelphia Eagles | W 32–9 | 3 | 0.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2023 | Jan. 21, 2024 | Divisional | at Detroit Lions | L 23–31 | 2 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2024 | Jan. 12, 2025 | Wild Card | Washington Commanders | L 20–23 | 7 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Scores show Tampa Bay first. The word “at” marks a road game. Super Bowl LV was played at Raymond James Stadium as the designated Super Bowl venue. Every listed appearance was a start. Tackles use the game log’s Total column, consistent with the team postseason totals.
Sources: official player logs covering the 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024 postseasons. Some official URLs labeled “reg” also display their season’s playoff games.
Community • Opportunity • Leadership
Beyond the secondary
In December 2023, the Buccaneers named Winfield their nominee for the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award. The announcement highlighted his support for children in foster care through Heart Gallery of Tampa and A Kid’s Place of Tampa Bay.
His work included arranging and funding outings that gave children shared experiences beyond their daily routines. One documented Halloween outing took 55 children trick-or-treating and included food gift cards. Community nomination report.
- 2023
Mentorship and service. Tampa Bay’s nomination report also described his involvement in the team’s Youth Leadership Program and Social Justice Board. Community work.
Representing the Buccaneers. He became Tampa Bay’s nominee for the league’s annual Walter Payton award, recognizing his contributions on and off the field. Team announcement.
- 2026
A captain again. His teammates selected him for a fourth consecutive season of captaincy. 2026 captains.
Sources & statistical notes
Published November 2, 2026. Current statistics include games completed through November 1, 2026. The 2026 season is unfinished. Regular-season and playoff figures remain separate; Tampa Bay did not reach the postseason after the 2025 season.
- Player information: the Buccaneers roster biography, team media biography for date of birth, and Minnesota biography for hometown and school. The full name is recorded by Pro Football Reference.
- Tackle totals: the tables consistently use the Buccaneers team-season TOTAL, SOLO and ASSIST columns. Some player-career views display a smaller Solo field and different totals. The selected team-season figures reconcile to 568 tackles = 373 solo + 195 assists through the current cutoff; the dated game logs support the five 2026 appearances.
- Turnovers: FR counts opponent fumble recoveries. Forced fumbles and recoveries are separate events and are not added together as takeaways. Interceptions and recovered opponent fumbles are the possession-changing categories.
- Postseason: the five team-season tables and individual game logs are linked above. All nine appearances were starts; the missed 2020-season NFC Championship Game is excluded. The 2020 Washington opponent was the Washington Football Team; the 2024 opponent was the Commanders.
- Honors: Pro Bowls and AP awards are labeled by the NFL season they recognize. Minnesota’s 2019 unanimous All-America honor is a college distinction. Walter Payton recognition here refers to Tampa Bay’s 2023 team nomination.
- Stories: team draft, contract, game, Next Gen Stats and community reports appear beside the passages they support. The Carolina tracking distance describes movement on one play and is separate from official interception or fumble-return yardage.