The Associated Press announced today its annual All-Pro team, which includes Tampa Bay Buccaneers safety Antoine Winfield Jr., who was selected with first-team designation, and wide receiver Mike Evans, who was awarded second-team designation from the delegation of 50 voters.
Winfield Jr. put forth a NFL Defensive Player of the Year-caliber season, amassing 122 tackles (six for loss), 12 passes defensed, eight quarterback hits, 6.0 sacks, six forced fumbles, four fumble recoveries and three interceptions. He finished the year with a share of the league lead in both forced fumbles and fumble recoveries, joining Haason Reddick (2022) as the only players to accomplish that feat since at least 2000.
Among defensive backs this season, Winfield Jr. finished first in sacks (6.0), first in forced fumbles (six), first in fumble recoveries (four), tied for third in takeaways (seven) and third in quarterback hits (eight). Winfield Jr. earned a 91.2 grade this season from Pro Football Focus, putting him as the league's highest-graded safety in 2023. He leads the NFL in most games with a takeaway and a sack this season, with four-such performances.
In an unprecedented 2023 campaign, Winfield Jr. is the lone player since data became available in 1999 with 100+ tackles, three-or-more interceptions, three-or-more forced fumbles, three-or-more fumble recoveries and 3.0+ sacks. He is also the lone defensive back since 2000 with 6.0+ sacks and six-or-more forced fumbles in a season, and the lone defensive back with seven-or-more takeaways and 5.0+ sacks. He is also just the fourth defensive back since 1982 with six-or-more games with a sack in a single season.
Since entering the league in 2020, Winfield Jr. leads all defensive backs in sacks (15.0), quarterback hits (21), forced fumbles (11) and fumble recoveries (eight). He also ranks tied for seventh in takeaways (15). Among all players, Winfield Jr. leads the NFL since 2020 with 19 combined forced fumbles plus fumble recoveries.
Winfield Jr. was also named the Buccaneers nominee for the Walter Payton Man of the Year.
Evans, a 2023 Pro Bowl selection, finished the 2023 season tied for the league lead with 13 touchdown receptions, in addition to recording the ninth-most receiving yards (1,255). Evans was 1-of-4 players in 2023 with 1,000+ receiving yards and 10+ receiving touchdowns, joining Tyreek Hill, CeeDee Lamb and Amon-Ra St. Brown. Among players with 75+ receptions this season, Evans finished third in yards per catch (15.9). He also hauled in three receptions of 50-or-more yards in 2023, tying for the third-most in the NFL.
The 10-year veteran has surpassed the 1,000-yard receiving mark in each of his 10 career seasons – the longest-such streak in NFL history to begin a player's career, and the second-longest streak overall, trailing only Pro Football Hall of Famer Jerry Rice's 11 consecutive 1,000-yard seasons. Evans' 10 total 1,000-yard receiving seasons tied Randy Moss (10) for the second-most in league history, trailing only Rice's 14. Through a player's first 10 career seasons, Evans ranks sixth in both touchdown receptions (94) and receiving yards (11,680). He is 1-of-4 players with 11,000+ receiving yards and 90+ touchdown receptions through 10 career seasons, along with a trio of Hall of Famers in Marvin Harrison, Moss and Rice. Evans also became the first player in league history to amass 60-or-more receptions in each of his first 10 career seasons.
Including 2023, Evans has five career seasons with 1,000-plus receiving yards and 10-or-more touchdown receptions – only Harrison (eight), Moss (eight), Terrell Owens (eight) and Rice (nine) have more. Those four players are also the only players in NFL history with more 12-touchdown seasons than Evans' five.
Evans is the Buccaneers all-time leader in receptions (762), receiving yards (11,680), receiving touchdowns (94), scrimmage yards (11,690) and scrimmage touchdowns (95). He ranks fifth in team history in games started (153) and 10th in games played (154).
Among all players in NFL history, Evans ranks 13th in receiving touchdowns and 33rd in receiving yards. Among active players, he ranks second in touchdown receptions, second in multi-touchdown performances (20), third in receiving yards, thirds in yards per reception (15.3, min. 300 receptions), third in 150-yard receiving games (13) and tied for sixth in 100-yard receiving games (36).
Evans owns the five best seasons in Tampa Bay's franchise history for single-season touchdown receptions (2014, 2016, 2020, 2021 and 2023). A captain in each of the past seven seasons for the Buccaneers, Evans is a three-time Walter Payton Man of the Year nominee.
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