The Golden Gophers star makes up for a lack of height with an impressive set of skills honed by years of study with his NFL veteran father.
It goes without saying that family means a great deal to Jerry Jones. More than once during his ownership, Jones has made a place at the Cowboys table for someone based on bloodlines. Whether it’s a training camp opportunity for Larry Allen’s progeny or a long career that goes from backup quarterback to offensive coordinator to head coach for the son of longtime Dallas scout Jim Garrett, the patriarch overseeing America’s Team knows that someone’s DNA can often tell a lot about their approach to Xs and Os.
Antoine Winfield, Jr. doesn’t have a huge body of work to put on his college football resume. The tale of the tape on the Minnesota safety won’t bowl anyone over. But discounting the 5-foot-9-inch Winfield solely because of his height or passing on him due to the injuries that cost him the better part of back-to-back seasons would be a mistake. He does have that name, after all. And that might just be enough to make Jones and his family take a closer look for the Cowboys.
Winfield made a strong debut for the Golden Gophers in 2016, starting nine of the team’s 12 games as a true freshman. But a hamstring injury ended his 2017 season after just four games. A Lisfranc fracture in his foot cut his 2018 season short, again after four outings, and put him in a wheelchair. Winfield returned in 2019 and enjoyed a stellar campaign that saw him named a finalist for the Bronko Nagurski Trophy and earning honors as a unanimous first-team All-American and the Big Ten’s Defensive Back of the Year.
After playing in just 30 games over four seasons, Winfield is leaving Minnesota with two years of eligibility remaining. He hopes to be an early draft pick later this month… just like his father before him.
Antoine Winfield, Sr. was selected with the 23rd overall pick in 1999’s draft. That’s the last time a defensive back shorter than 5-foot-10 was drafted in the first round. (It’s happened just six times since 1967.) But Buffalo and head coach Wade Phillips took a chance on the cornerback out of Ohio State.
After five seasons with the Bills, Antoine Sr. signed with the Vikings as a free agent. Over nine more years in Minnesota, he made three Pro Bowls and found a spot on the 50 Greatest Vikings team before he was even done playing.
Once retired, Antoine Sr. dedicated himself to teaching the art of covering wide receivers to his teenage namesake. The lack of height in the Winfield genes meant that Antoine Jr. would have to mirror his father’s style, one that emphasized positioning and smarts over pure physicality.
“Every coach I had there in Minnesota, they preached turnovers, turnovers, turnovers,” Winfield Sr. told ESPN’s Kevin Seifert. “So I had to study. I told [my son] at a very early age that that’s how you make a name for yourself. That’s how you separate the good players and great players. Guys who create turnovers. It’s all about the ball… The only advantage you’ve got, especially with so many receivers in the NFL now being the size of Calvin Johnson, is to put yourself in the best position to play the ball. You can’t win every battle, but you can win your share if you have a good idea of where the ball is going to go. You only know that by studying what they’ve done and what their tendencies are. I knew I couldn’t run and jump with them, so that was the only chance I had.”
Junior learned well. In the biggest game of the Gophers’ season, Winfield snagged two interceptions. One of them killed a Penn State drive to help seal the upset win over the 4th-ranked Nittany Lions. The play saw Winfield break off his primary responsibility covering the post and sprint toward the sideline, all because he spotted something in a receiver’s alignment that he had recognized from film study.
“At a young age, I just always was watching my dad do the things that he needed to do to be a great player,” Antoine Jr. said. “The No. 1 thing was always film study. You have to learn what offenses do, who they’re throwing to. You have to know who is getting the ball, how running backs carry the ball. And you have to know it in practice, not just games. So my goal is to get one takeaway in practice every day. If you make it a habit in practice, you’ll do it in a game, and that’s how you get on the map.”
Winfield Jr. is on the map now. It remains to be seen, though, exactly where on the map most teams have him. Part of that is due to his size. Part is because of his injuries. A convoluted episode in college that resulted in a suspension doesn’t help, either. But some of the unknowns around Winfield’s draft stock are just a byproduct of the position he plays.
“Safety is the toughest position to evaluate, at least in my opinion,” draft guru Todd McShay said. “There is so much space, they’re in the back end, and you’ve got to really look to figure out what they’re seeing, what they’re trying to do and how they’re reacting. A lot of guys, they don’t jump out, but Antoine just jumps out. He knows when to study the receiver, and he knows when to get his eyes on the quarterback. That’s tough to teach. Anyone who has played defense at all knows that it’s tough to teach their eyes to move from one to the other. He does such a great job with that.”
Safety has long been an area of need for Dallas. The offseason signing of HaHa Clinton-Dix is encouraging, but leaves Xavier Woods, Darian Thompson, and second-year man Donovan Wilson as the only other safeties on the Cowboys roster. Winfield Jr. would be the shortest of that bunch by a full two inches.
LSU’s Grant Delpit and Alabama’s Xavier McKinney are considered the class of the 2020 draft class at the safety position. Winfield may actually be better, but he is a staggering six inches shorter than Delpit. It could come down to how much stock some teams put on sheer size… and how much faith other teams put in things like lineage.
Winfield will get a shot with some team, whether it’s the Cowboys or elsewhere. As he has for his entire career, he will be relying once again on the ballhawking instincts developed over years of study with Dad.
“It helps to have a dad like Antoine Winfield Sr. grinding tape with you,” McShay added, “but some of that, you either have it or you don’t.”
