Antoine Winfield Jr. sets a crystal clear goal ahead of Buccaneers season

It was a busy offseason for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and a particularly lucrative one for Antoine Winfield Jr., who wasted no time setting a new record.

The Bucs made Winfield Jr. the highest-paid defensive back in NFL history, an honor that still somehow feels like it undersells his value. It's impossible to overstate just how important he's been to Tampa Bay's success, and how critical he is to the team's future.

It says a lot about how good Winfield Jr. is that his $84.1 million feels like a bargain, but one look at his impact on the defense says it all. At numerous points last season he single-handidly saved games including a goal line forced fumble in Week 18 that arguably saved the season.

He's the richest player at his position, but you wouldn't be able to tell that from the way Winfield Jr. kicked off his first media session of training camp this week.

Antoine Winfield Jr. sets a clear goal ahead of Buccaneers season

After the Bucs first practice of training camp, Winfield spoke to the media and made sure to let it be known he has a pretty clear goal in mind for this season.

“My goal every year is to do better than I did in the previous year and staying true to what I do every single year, and every day I’m out here. I try to get better," Winfield Jr. said. " It’s not like I’m complacent or anything. I still have goals that I want to reach and I still have things that I want to do and so I still have that mindset that I’m going to come out here, put the work in, and get better.”

Anyone thinking that Winfield Jr.'s new contract would change him hasn't paid much attention to how he's carried himself during his career in Tampa Bay. Even those who have watched him, though, are have to be feeling great about how motivated the best safety in the league is to get even better.

It's also bad news or the rest of the NFL.

Winfield Jr. has already been a menace for offenses, including the vaunted Kansas City Chiefs. It's hard to believe that his iconic Peace Sign moment in the Super Bowl was four years ago and that was just the tip of the talent iceberg.

He's been an All-Pro, a league leader, and is now the richest player to have ever stepped foot in the secondary. The fact that Winfield Jr. still has this kind of fire is exactly the type of thing the Buccaneers need heading into the season.

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