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‘Fairytale’ Buffalo Bills Trade Pitch Targets $84 Million NFL All-Pro Safety
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- ‘Fairytale’ Buffalo Bills Trade Pitch Targets $84 Million NFL All-Pro Safety
Tampa Bay Buccaneers safety Antoine Winfield Jr. Getty
Here's one reunion Buffalo Bills fans might get behind: bringing in a second-generation NFL player whose father once starred in Buffalo.
Pro Football Focus put a trade for Tampa Bay Buccaneers NFL All-Pro safety Antoine Winfield Jr. — the son of former Bills cornerback and 1999 1st-round pick Antoine Winfield — at the top of its list of "fairytale" NFL trades that could happen before the NFL trade deadline on November 10.
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"At 1-5, the Buccaneers are very much on the outside looking in of the 2026 postseason. Tampa Bay has several attractive assets, but none would be better and more realistic to move than Winfield," PFF's Bradley Locker wrote on October 21. "The 28-year-old has notched a 76.8 overall PFF grade this season, adding an elite 87.9 PFF run-defense grade while missing zero tackles over 234 total snaps. Buffalo's safeties have been especially culpable. Veteran C.J. Gardner-Johnson owns a 55.2 overall PFF grade and staggering 25.7% missed tackle rate, plus will now miss Week 8 due to spitting on Raiders tight end Brock Bowers. Moreover, third-year safety Cole Bishop has failed to break out, earning a 51.3 grade while permitting a 109.5 passer rating into his coverage."
One problem with trading for Winfield? The Buccaneers would have to accept a $27.8 million dead-cap hit next season. That means it would have to be a pretty high draft pick — probably a 2027 or 2028 2nd-round pick — to make that dead-cap hit sting a little less.
Antoine Winfield Jr.: Healed by the Trade Deadline
Another thing to consider: Winfield Jr. has been out of Tampa Bay's lineup with fractured ribs but should be healed by the NFL trade deadline on November 10.
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Winfield was arguably the NFL's best safety in 2023 — his lone NFL All-Pro season — and cashed in with a 4-year, $84.1 million contract extension that made him the NFL's highest-paid defensive back at the time.
For all the good Winfield did in 2023, he was equally bad (or just not available) in 2024, when he missed a career-high 8 games, but bounced back by playing all 17 games in 2025 and earned Pro Bowl honors despite Tampa Bay going 8-9 and missing the playoffs for the first time since 2019.
Buffalo Bills Have Embarrassing Safety Issue
The Bills' safety problems went from bad to embarrassing last week when free-agent signee C.J. Gardner-Johnson was ejected from a Week 6 win over the Las Vegas Raiders after spitting on tight end Brock Bowers.
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With the Bills on bye in Week 7, he'll have to sit out their Week 8 game against the Baltimore Ravens .
Say what you will about Winfield's availability — he's not an outright embarrassment like Gardner-Johnson has been and can still play like an elite safety at times.
This article was originally published on HEAVY
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