Bucs’ decision to draft Emeka Egbuka looks even better after ESPN rearranges the 2025 NFL Draft
This is exactly what you want to see when it comes to evaluating a first-round pick.
Despite the rough finish, it’s clear the Tampa Bay Buccaneers selected a good player in Emeka Egbuka with the 19th overall pick of the 2025 NFL Draft.
Egbuka finished the year as the Buccaneers’ leading receiver after snagging 63 receptions for 938 yards and six touchdowns on 127 targets. He finished first in all four categories and was clearly the team’s most valuable wideout after injuries took their toll on the corps.
And the decision looks even better after ESPN’s latest rearrangement of the 2025 draft.
Emeka Egbuka gets drafted 11th overall by the San Francisco 49ers
In the re-draft, Egbuka moves up eight slots to where he’s taken 11th overall by the 49ers. Per ESPN’s Nick Wagoner, he’d immediately become the most valuable receiver on the team when including Brandon Aiyuk’s injury in the mix.
“The 49ers had strong interest in McMillan around the draft, but he was off the board. And though Williams showed promise, Egbuka would have helped stabilize a position that has a lot of question marks. Although Egbuka’s fast start turned into a slow finish, he’d be the best and most proven wideout under contract for the Niners right now.” — ESPN’s Nick Wagoner
Eight spots is quite the jump for a non-quarterback, and Egbuka was part of just a handful of non-QBs that jumped at least eight spots in the re-draft.
It just goes to show how good a pick he was. Now, it’s all about taking his game to the next level, especially if Mike Evans retires.
Emeka Egbuka’s 2025 stats and ranks among all WRs
- Receptions: 63 (28th)
- Yards: 938 (20th)
- Touchdowns: 6 (t-18th)
- Yards per route run min. 100 targets: 1.75 (18th)
Bucs get Carson Schwesinger in ESPN’s re-draft
The Buccaneers don’t lose out on a valuable player in this scenario, as the probable Defensive Rookie of the Year in Schwesinger becomes their pick at No. 19 after Egbuka’s rise to No. 11.
Schwesinger already looks like a top-10 linebacker after an inaugural campaign that saw him rack up 156 total tackles, 2.5 sacks, two interceptions, 11 tackles for loss, nine quarterback hits, and three pass breakups over the course of 16 games. He was an absolute monster on the field and helped the Cleveland Browns’ defense recover from the loss of Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah.
He would’ve been a major boon for a Buccaneers’ linebacker group that really struggled. Lavonte David looked his age more than ever, and SirVocea Dennis didn’t get anywhere close to taking the step forward Todd Bowles hoped he would. Even better, he’d have one of the two starting linebacker positions locked up, which is big considering the Bucs could be looking to fill both spots during the offseason.
The linebacker position is arguably the most important on Bowles’ defense, and as we’ve seen the last two years, the unit is a shell of itself when it can’t get effective play out of the second level.
Either way, it’s all hindsight, ultimately. The good news for the Buccaneers is their decision looks even better in now, which is exactly what an NFL team wants when it comes to future evaluations of top draft picks.
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