STRENGTHS
Antoine reminds me of Cardinals, Texans, Chiefs Defensive back Tyrann Mathieu. Antoine like Tyrann is an instinctive Defensive Back with excellent, athletic talent to play more than one position in the Defensive Backfield. He is a quick-twitch athletic, with excellent foot quickness along with the unique combination of speed and quickness that only a few athletes possess. Antoine is a ball hawk with the hands to intercept the ball as good as any receiver in this draft. Those competent hands also lend themselves to returning punts and along with his return and special Teams skills will add value to his overall game that should be attractive to all 32 teams. Because Antoine is an instinctive and aggressive tackler, he can play up near the line of scrimmage, supporting the run and in coverages against those pesky running backs coming out of the backfield. He can and will fight through blocks and make tackles on sweeps and screens because he anticipates and understands blocking assignments of his opponents on offense. Antoine is one of the better Defensive Backs/ safeties in this draft.
CONCERNS
Antione is vertically challenged and as far as most NFL teams are concerned, this along with some medicals and injuries will affect his draft status. Not for me, but for them.
BOTTOM LINE 1.83
Size matters in the Draft but like I always say, size doesn’t matter once a player is on the field. Playmakers on offense and defense come in all different sizes and from players playing all different positions on a football field. The key to being a playmaker is, you have to be on the field and sometimes size makes that difficult because coaches are so enamored by big players and have convinced themselves that only big players make big plays. Budda Baker is 5’ 10” 195 lbs had 104 solo tackles last year and was selected in the 2nd Round of his draft. Tyrann Mathieu at 5’ 9” 190 lbs had 76 solos tackles, 4 interceptions. Antoine Winfield was listed at the combine at 5’ 9” 203 lbs and in a season has had 62 solos tackles and 7 interceptions and returned a punt for a touchdown. Now I know stats do not tell the whole story because if they did they would show everyone the emotional impact Antoine has had for his defense, and that can only be shown by watching the film. I don’t care what size a player is when that player on film, is making those amounts of tackles for your defense. The law of averages that he could get injured will be against that player no matter his size. So, dropping a playmaker because of size or injuries is not very smart business. That being said, even though Antoine is a playmaker on defense, he will be selected later than I have him rated, no doubt. It’s the history of the draft that Antoine and small players like him are fighting. For me, If I needed a safety and this kid was on the board in the 1st round, your dam straight I would select him. I don’t believe in passing on proven playmakers especially on the defensive side of the board.
