There's zero debate Antoine Winfield Jr. is one of the best players on the Tampa Bay  Buccaneers defense.

Hell, one can even say he's top-5 on the entire team.

"He gets better mentally every year," Buccaneers head coach Todd Bowles told reporters at the NFL Combine. "His tackling is outstanding, his intensity is outstanding, what he does for the team is outstanding. I think he’s one of our top three defensive players. He can only get better with experience, you know?" 

Much of this was proven last year when Bowles decided to not just have Winfield Jr. play centerfield, but man the nickel position, as well. 

In case you're not familiar with the responsibilities that come with the above role: it's a lot.

Like, a lot a lot. 

For starters, you have to be rangy and athletic enough to play free safety, but you have to quick, physical, and extremely smart and aware to play nickel/slot corner. Especially in the Buccaneers system.

And Winfield Jr. did a good job with everything. 

Per Pro Football Focus, Winfield Jr. graded out as the fourth-best defensive back (corners and safeties both included) in run defense among all DBs with at least 278 run defense snaps (110 qualifying players). His 3.3% stop rate was top-25  and his missed tackle rate of 5.3% ranked 14th out of said 110 players.

His average depth of tackle -meaning how quickly he got to the ball carrier, essentially- is a pretty solid 8.4 yards considering he spent around 65% of his snaps in coverage.

Winfield Jr.'s coverage stats aren't as impressive, but they were still decent, overall. His coverage grade landed him at No. 60 out of 104 qualified players (he actually tied with Dallas Cowboys All-Pro CB Trevon Diggs) and he allowed 69.0% of targets to be completed, which landed him at 60th overall, as well.

That's all going to change, however. Winfield Jr. will not be the Buccaneers nickel in 2023. 

"I don’t want to move him around as much this coming season than I have this year – I’ll try to leave him at one spot as best as I can," said Bowles. "I think he’ll master that spot and get even better for us.”

It's the right choice. Time and time again Winfield Jr. has shown he has all the tools to be one of the NFL's top safeties. All one has to do is go back and watch the 2020 Buccaneers-Atlanta Falcons matchup where he prevented a Calvin Ridley receiving touchdown and 2021's Randy Moss-like interception over Indianapolis Colts wideout Michael Pittman Jr. 

Most importantly, however, it'll keep Winfield Jr. out of harm's way. As mentioned earlier, nickel is a physical position due to having to play the run. And playing the run means players are matching up with offensive linemen, getting involved in piles, etc.

Winfield played a career-low 88% of defensive snaps last year after hitting the 97% mark in each of his first two seasons. He was banged up throughout the year and his absences hurt the team. 

Playing safety minimizes those "opportunities", so to speak. Sure, the Buccaneers will have Winfield Jr. come up in the box and he's naturally a physical player, anyway. So, there will be risk of injury (plus it's football, duh). But avoiding the nickel, for the most part, lessens all that.

All around, it's a solid move that should pay off for both Winfield Jr. and the Buccaneers.

Featured image via Kareem Elgazzar/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK