TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — It’s official – Antoine Winfield Jr. owns the month of December.
A day after the National Football League announced the star safety was named the NFC Defensive Player of the Week for Week 18, the NFL shared Winfield Jr. is the NFC Defensive Player of the Month for December/January.
From Weeks 13 to 18, Winfield Jr., who is arguably the best safety in the league, amassed 41 tackles (four for loss), four sacks, four defended passes, three forced fumbles, two interceptions and one fumble recovery.
The safety put forth an unprecedented NFL Defensive Player of the Year-caliber season, amassing 122 tackles (six for loss), 12 passes defensed, eight quarterback hits, six sacks, six forced fumbles, four fumble recoveries and three interceptions. He finished the year with a share of the league lead in both forced fumbles and fumble recoveries, joining Haason Reddick (2022) as the only players to accomplish that feat since at least 2000.
According to the Bucs, Winfield Jr. is the only player since data became available in 1999 with 100 or more tackles, three or more interceptions, three or more forced fumbles, three or more fumble recoveries, and three or more sacks.
He is also the lone defensive back since 200 with over six sacks, six or more forced fumbles in a season, and the only defensive back with seven or more takeaways and more than five sacks.
Despite his achievements this season, Winfield Jr. was snubbed of a Pro Bowl. Instead, Arizona Cardinals safety Budda Baker was elected to the Pro Bowl team despite recording zero interceptions, zero forced fumbles, zero fumble recoveries and zero sacks this season.
Additionally, Winfield Jr. was also the Tampa Bay Buccaneers nominee for the Walter Payton Florida Florida man of the Year.
Since entering the league in 2020, the safety leads all defensive backs in sacks (15), quarterback hits (21), forced fumbles (11) and fumble recoveries (eight). He is also tied for seventh in takeaways with 15. Winfield Jr. also leads the NFL among all players with 19 forced fumbles plus fumble recoveries since 2020.
