Buccaneers safety Antoine Winfield Jr. agrees to four-year, $84.1 million contract

Antoine Winfield Jr.‘s steady rise to stardom with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers has prompted a massive pay day.

The safety agreed to a four-year, $84.1 million deal with the Bucs on Monday, NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport reported. Tampa Bay later announced the contract.

The deal includes $45 million in guaranteed money and makes him the highest-paid defensive back in the NFL, marking the first time in league history that such a title belongs to a safety.

Winfield certainly deserves the deal. He’s earned one Pro Bowl nod (2021), and after being robbed of All-Pro honors in previous years, he finally secured one in 2023, drawing Defensive Player of the Year votes along the way.

Winfield recorded a career-high six forced fumbles — including two that saved the Bucs from allowing touchdowns — in a 2023 campaign that saw him start in all 17 games, logging 122 tackles, six sacks, three interceptions and 12 passes defensed, all of which also standing as career-best totals.

As faces have changed in Tampa Bay’s secondary, Winfield has remained the constant, delivering consistent production that has often swung games in the Buccaneers’ favor. He received the franchise tag in early March from the Buccaneers, and on Monday he became the latest tagged player to agree to a long-term deal, leaving Cincinnati’s Tee Higgins as the only player tagged in 2024 without a multi-year extension in place.