After becoming NFL's highest-paid DB, Buccaneers' Antoine Winfield Jr. vows 'to be better than I was before'

After becoming NFL's highest-paid DB, Buccaneers' Antoine Winfield Jr. vows 'to be better than I was before'

Earlier this offseason, Tampa Bay Buccaneers safety Antoine Winfield Jr. signed a new contract that made him the highest-paid defensive back in the NFL. The four-year deal is worth $84.1 million and contains $45 million fully guaranteed.

After a four-year stretch during which he finished in the top six of Defensive Player of the Year voting twice, made a Pro Bowl and was named a First Team All-Pro, Winfield doesn't plan on slowing down anytime soon.

Antoine Winfield Jr. TB • SAF • #31 View Profile

"I'm the type of person [that] I'm never satisfied," Winfield said, via PewterReport.com. "My goal every season is to [be] better than I was the previous season. Like Coach [Nick] Rapone always says, 'To much is given, much is expected.' I know that coming in. I'm going to be better than I was before. I'm going to train harder than I was before.

"Something that is also big for me is just learning something new every single day because there is so much to learn in this sport and so many ways that I can improve my game. I'm just excited to be given the opportunity here in Tampa. I've still got that fire in me, and I don't see it going away at any time. I'm still going to be out here doing extra work and doing things like that. I'm just excited to be here."

As for how, exactly, he plans to get better, Winfield is focusing on turnovers. "I [have to] get 10," Winfield said. "My goal was to get 10 takeaways, however they come."

Last season, he intercepted three passes and forced a league-high six fumbles, and he also recovered four fumbles. Depending on how you count turnovers, Winfield may have already reached his goal. If you're only counting the ones that he nabbed himself, Winfield got to seven takeaways, which still isn't all that far off.

Since 1970, only 41 players have forced 10 or more takeaways in a season, according to Tru Media, and only six have done it since 2010. The most recent was Trevon Diggs in 2021, when he led the league with 11 interceptions.