Emeka Egbuka just kicked down the door to the NFL’s Offensive Rookie of the Year award race
The Emeka Egbuka Hype Train has been rolling along since May pretty much, yet the rest of the NFL world continued to sleep on the sensational rookie for whatever reason.Well, that quickly changed after just one game in a Tampa Bay Buccaneers uniform. Coming into the regular season, Egbuka’s odds of winning Offensive Rookie of […]
The Emeka Egbuka Hype Train has been rolling along since May pretty much, yet the rest of the NFL world continued to sleep on the sensational rookie for whatever reason.
Well, that quickly changed after just one game in a Tampa Bay Buccaneers uniform. Coming into the regular season, Egbuka’s odds of winning Offensive Rookie of the Year sat at +1600 for most sportsbooks. For value purposes under those odds, if one were to be $5, they’d win $80 and the full payout would be $85.
Now, after Egbuka recorded four recpetions for 67 yards and two touchdowns on six targets during the Bucs’ Week 1 win over the Atlanta Falcons, Egbuka’s odds have jumped all the way up to +750 in some books. Now, a $5 bet nets $37.50 in winnings and a $42.50 payout.
He currently has the third-best odds to win OROTY. If that were to happen, he’d be just the third Buccaneer of all-time to win the award and the first since Cadillac Williams won it back in 2005 (Warrick Dunn was the first to win the award in 1997).
That’s a helluva climb after just one game. The opportunity is there for Egbuka to keep ascending, as well. He’s officially the Bucs’ WR2 with Chris Godwin Jr. and Jalen McMillan out for an extended period and he’ll probably continue to hold that status for a few weeks after Godwin actually returns because he’ll need to get into football shape. I wouldn’t expect Godwin to “be himself” until around Week 10 or so.
There’s also the fact Ashton Jeanty and Cam Ward, the two players in front of Egbuka, slipped a little after Week 1. Jeanty went from +260 odds to +272 while Ward dropped from +350 to +500. Both players had less-than-spectacular performances in their respective games and Egbuka shined. So, the movements make sense.
With how things are trending, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Egbuka’s name at the top of this list soon. He’s still got a ways to go, but the path is there and ripe for the taking.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers News
Two old problems continue to haunt the Bucs even after they worked all offseason to solve them
We’ve talked about the good from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ big Week 1 win over the Atlanta Falcons so naturally, it’s time to turn around and talk about the bad. Right off the bat, there are two key issues that popped up on Sunday and the irony is the Bucs worked diligently all offseason in […]
