“Are you talking about a ****ing do-over? That’s not how the game is played. You can’t do that!” So said west Baltimore kingpin Avon Barksdale in The Wire (2002) in the famous Game Day episode.
While it’s true there are no do-overs in sports or in real life, it’s always fun to imagine what might have been. If teams were given the opportunity, the NFL draft would probably look radically different every year.
For example, in a new 2020 NFL redraft from our friends at Draft Wire, the Carolina Panthers decided to go in an entirely different direction. Instead of taking Auburn defensive tackle Derrick Brown with the No. 8 overall pick, they went with Minnesota safety Antoine Winfield Jr., who wound up going to the division-rival Buccaneers in the second round last year.
It’s too early to judge either one of them just yet, but former general manager Marty Hurney taking Winfield instead would have made more sense. We expect Brown to become a potent and disruptive interior pass rusher and run stopper at some point. However, all the things that a defender like Winfield can do are more valuable in the modern NFL.
Specifically, Winfield’s ability to cover a large area of field on the back end is exactly the kind of thing that Carolina’s defense is missing right now. Even a very high-quality interior defensive lineman just can’t match the value of a free safety who can effectively contain receivers who will more likely than not be running routes that result in chunk plays if completed successfully. Consistently cutting down on those 20+ yard explosive gains for the opponent is simply much more important than the occasional tackle for a loss or sack in the backfield.
In his rookie season, Winfield demonstrated a rare talent for patrolling that deep third of the field, especially for a player his age.
Antoine Winfield Jr. balled out in the Super Bowl as a rookie!@AntoineWJr11 | #SBLV pic.twitter.com/5WCKVLWsFS
— NFL (@NFL) February 13, 2021
He also contributed to Tampa’s defense in other ways, totaling three sacks, four quarterback hits and two forced fumbles.
Time will tell if Brown was the right call, but given what we know so far, Winfield would have been the better choice.
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