Buccaneers Get Amazing Injury Update on Antoine Winfield Jr.

At just 22 years old and in his first season in the NFL, Antoine Winfield Jr. established himself as a key cog in a Super Bowl-caliber defense. However, he suffered an ankle injury that kept him out of the NFC Championship Game, leading some to wonder whether he'd be available in the Super Bowl.

Thankfully, Bruce Arians' pick for the Defensive Rookie of the Year award appears on track to play, according to recent reports.

Antoine Winfield Jr. Injury Update

That sound you heard was Buccaneers fans breathing a collective sigh of relief, as ESPN's Dianna Russini reports Winfield is expected to play.

A second-round pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, it didn't take long for Winfield to make his presence felt. In his second career NFL game (Week 2), the dynamic rookie piled up 11 tackles, 1 forced fumble, 1 QB hit and a sack. He never looked back.

ProFootballFocus selected him to their all-rookie team at safety. He finished the year as PFF's second-highest graded safety as a run defender, also posting a top-10 grade at the position as a pass-rusher. That's insanely impressive stuff for anyone, let alone a rookie.

And don't forget, Tampa Bay might not be playing in the Super Bowl were it not for Winfield. His forced fumble on Jared Cook in the Divisional Round completely changed the course of that game, galvanizing a Bucs team that went on to score 17 unanswered points the rest of the way. Having a playmaker like that patrolling the defensive backfield will be huge.

Even with a healthy Winfield, Bucs are currently 3-point underdogs against the Kansas City Chiefs, per FanDuel Sportsbook.

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Max Staley is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Max Staley also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username mstaley1212. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.