Buccaneers S Antoine Winfield Jr. will miss at least two games and could be out as much as a month, according to Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times. Winfield suffered an ankle injury late in Sunday's win over the Commanders and left the stadium in a walking boot. Stroud adds that the Bucs are "cautiously optimistic" it'll be just two weeks.
Greg Auman of FOX Sports: "My understanding is that Antoine Winfield is more likely to miss 3-4 weeks with his ankle/foot sprain."
Winfield likely led all DBs in fantasy scoring in your league last year. So it's an impactful loss. Fortunately, DB is generally the most replaceable position on fantasy rosters.
Winfield played every defensive snap of the Washington game, so we didn't get a preview of the replacement plan. The team website lists Christian Izien as his backup.
Izien's typically a CB and ran as Tampa Bay's primary slot CB last season. The next most frequent slot guy -- according to Pro Football Focus -- was Winfield.
If Izien gets to 100% playing time with Winfield out while continuing to play most of his snaps in the slot, he could be a sneaky IDP producer.
The Buccaneers defense clearly loses for Winfield's absence. He has grown into one of the NFL's best and most versatile DBs.
The first Winfield-less test comes at Detroit in Week 2. That's rough, but it's not a spot you should have been considering using the Bucs D anyway.
Conversely, Winfield's absence shouldn't keep Tampa Bay from being a Week 3 DST option for a Week 3 home date with Denver.
Let's see where we're at beyond that.
Consider Izien as a potential fill-in off waivers. He showed his versatility by lining up at outside CB for nearly half his snaps against Washington after starter Zyon McCollum and two other CBs got hurt.
Izien said after the game he hadn't played that spot since high school.
If you're replacing Izien in a shallower league, you should find plenty of other options available. Check your Free Agent Finder for the top target in your league.
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