2020 NFL Draft: 3 defensive players 49ers target with second Round 1 pick
By Peter Panacy
Antoine Winfield Jr.. 3. player. 852. . Safety. Golden Gophers
The 49ers could elect to give third-year pro Tarvarius Moore the shot at starting in 2020 if Jimmie Ward walks. But this is something San Francisco experimented with early in 2019, only to realize Ward was the far better and experienced option.
If the Niners view Moore as little more than a top backup option moving forward, or at least feel very strongly about the first player on this list, Minnesota’s Antoine Winfield Jr., it wouldn’t be shocking to see John Lynch make this play at No. 31 overall.
Alabama’s Xavier McKinney is the top safety in this year’s class, while LSU’s Grant Delpit is widely viewed at No. 2 on the same list.
But it’s not hard to see why Winfield could be the more promising out of all of the three mentioned.
| Tackles | Def Int | Fumbles | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | School | Conf | Class | Pos | G | Solo | Ast | Tot | Loss | Sk | Int | Yds | Avg | TD | PD | FR | Yds | TD | FF |
| *2016 | Minnesota | Big Ten | FR | DB | 10 | 37 | 15 | 52 | 2.5 | 0.0 | 1 | 82 | 82.0 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 0 | ||
| 2017 | Minnesota | Big Ten | SO | DB | 4 | 17 | 3 | 20 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |||
| *2018 | Minnesota | Big Ten | SO | DB | 4 | 10 | 7 | 17 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||
| *2019 | Minnesota | Big Ten | SO | DB | 12 | 58 | 25 | 83 | 3.5 | 3.0 | 7 | 98 | 14.0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | ||
| Career | Minnesota | 122 | 50 | 172 | 7.0 | 4.0 | 9 | 180 | 20.0 | 2 | 6 | 3 | 2 |
Provided by CFB at Sports Reference: View Original Table
Generated 3/10/2020.
Sure, at 5-foot-9 and 203 pounds, Winfield is a bit undersized for the position. And this will certainly hinder his draft stock a bit.
Yet one shouldn’t question his playmaking abilities, especially the ballhawking traits he flashed during 2019. His on-field recognition and anticipation are top notch, and he plays much bigger than his size would otherwise indicate.
There is a bit of an injury concern with Winfield. But he’s arguably the biggest playmaker at this position in the draft, and the 49ers could do much worse than add Winfield at No. 31 overall.