What will Antoine Winfield's role be in 2012?

ESPN's Kevin Seifert had a short post today at the NFL combine that had nothing to do with potential Viking draftees. It was actually about cornerback Antoine Winfield and what role he will have with the team next season.

The post comes after Seifert attended a press conference where Vikings general manager Rick Spielman gave the media horde some of his thoughts. A couple of points about that post and Spielman comments.

1. Seifert seems to think the Vikings are considering all kinds of roles for Winfield – including moving him to safety. I can't see that happening – not because it doesn't make sense – but because in an article several weeks ago (which I could not find on the Internet in order to link to it here) Winfield made it pretty clear he ain't playing safety. His basic comment was something like, "corner is where the action is, so I'm going to be a corner."

But Spielman and the Vikings have something cooking with Winfield. A GM knows how the media game works and Spielman would not put something out there publicly unless he thought it was in his best interest to do so. I think what he's trying to do is pave the way for an Antoine Winfield who plays several less snaps in 2012 than he has played in the past. And that could be Spielman's plan on how to get two more full seasons of football out of a still effective, but aging and increasingly brittle veteran like Winfield.

I think the perfect role for Winfield is that of a Charles Woodson-type hybrid corner-safety position, where he's moved around the field and asked to do a number of things. Winfield's still a deadly tackler. He also shown a good feel for blitzing (and stripping the ball from quarterbacks). Finally, he can still cover. The only problem with that idea is the Vikings Tampa Two defensive scheme doesn't seem to allow for that kind of creativity. But I don't see Winfield playing safety. Ever.

2. If Winfield isn't going to be a full-time player, and instead will only play when opponents use three and four wide receiver sets – which will still be a lot of the time in today's NFL – what does that do to the Vikings run defense?

The Williams Wall, E.J. Henderson, Jared Allen, Ray Edwards, Chad Greenway, Ben Leber, Cedric Griffin – they all had a hand in making the Vikings essentially the top run-stopping unit in the NFL from 2006-2009. But Winfield played a large role in that as well. He was like an extra linebacker out there. He sealed off outside running lanes with a great ability to knife through blocks and take out running backs, fullbacks and wide receivers in space outside the numbers.

The Vikings didn't have that guy much of last year, and while it wasn't the only reason Minnesota was subpar stopping the run, I think it was a factor. If Winfield isn't playing on downs when opponent's are using only two receivers, the unit will be playing those (likely) running downs without one of their best run defenders. I don't know how you square that circle.