Tampa Bay Buccaneers MVP Antoine Winfield Jr. is 'Most Consistent Impact Player'
MVP awards are usually given to a quarterback, and normally one on a very successful team, so it's no surprise quarterback Baker Mayfield was predicted as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' most likely player to win the league MVP for the first time in franchise history.
But we all know that the quarterback that wins the award isn't always the true most valuable player in the league, let alone their team, and in the Buccaneers' case, the MVP of the team may very well reside on the defensive side of things.
According to NFL.com's Eric Edholm, that potential MVP player is Tampa Bay safety Antoine Winfield Jr., not Mayfield.
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"I could see a slight regression for Baker Mayfield and the Buccaneers’ offense this season," says Edholme. "I’m not predicting a big downturn or anything, but it’s not going to be easy to reach the same plateau Tampa Bay hit by the end of last season, especially with Dave Canales jumping ship to Carolina.
"Instead, I’m putting my money behind the Bucs’ most consistent impact player in Winfield [Jr], who somehow remains underrated in spite of being an NFL legacy and having turned in a brilliant first four seasons. Are we witnessing the start of a Hall of Fame career? I don’t say that lightly. The highest-paid safety in the league, Winfield has 15 sacks, 11 forced fumbles, eight recoveries and seven interceptions in his career, and he has an innate knack for making the timeliest of plays when the Bucs need them most. A special young player in the midst of stardom."
Being the highest-paid safety in the NFL, it's hard to call Winfield an underdog, but he certainly doesn't get the national attention he might if he were playing for a team with more national attraction. Tell Mike Evans something he doesn't know, right?
But getting this kind of love from the league's media outlet certainly helps, and if Winfield Jr. repays that attention with noteworthy play like he has so far in his NFL career it may not be much longer before everyone knows how great he's been.
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DAVID HARRISON
David Harrison has been in sports media since 2015 using written, audio, and video media to cover athletes, coaches, and games. In addition to covering the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for BucsGameday and Locked On Bucs he also covers the Washington Commanders for Commander Country and Locked On Commanders and the Washington Wizards for Inside the Wizards. David also covers the NFL as a whole as one of the Friday hosts for Locked On NFL. He is a graduate of the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona State University and previously spent 20 years as an active member of the United States Army. Contact David via email at david.w.harrison82@gmail.com or on Twitter @DHarrison82.