Emeka Egbuka is going to have to do something he hasn’t done at Ohio State or in Tampa for Bucs to reach their potential in 2026
The expectations will be even higher for the Bucs’ 2025 first round pick with Mike Evans out of town.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ offense is going to look very different next season. For the first time since 2014, future Hall of Famer Mike Evans will not be a part of the Bucs’ game plan, as he opted to seek another run at a Super Bowl with the San Francisco 49ers back in March.
Naturally, the question is who’s going to step up into that role? The Bucs obviously have the terrific Chris Godwin on their roster still, and if he can return to form, Tampa Bay will still have their 1B to Evans’ 1A from previous years.
However, the Bucs got No. 1 wide receiver production at times from 2025 first round pick Emeka Egbuka last year. Of course, as Bucs fans know, those “times” came in the first half of the season, when Egbuka looked like one of the best young offensive players in football. And then, the second half of the season wall hit the rookie.
Egbuka hasn’t had to be a true No. 1 in his four years at Ohio State and his first year in the NFL. Now, he will need to carry that load.
Emeka Egbuka is going to have to step up and be the No. 1 wide receiver on the Bucs in 2026
At Ohio State, Egbuka was in the company of players like Jaxon Smith-Njibga, Garrett Wilson, and Chris Olave, who were all with the Buckeyes in 2021. He was second in receiving to Marvin Harrison, Jr. in 2022 and 2023 and behind Jeremiah Smith in 2024.
All of those players are their teams’ respective No. 1 receivers. Smith should be a top three pick in next year’s NFL Draft and has eventual All-Pro potential.
Now, and perhaps for the first time, there’s no true star on the roster in front of Egbuka. The stage is set for him to step up and prove he can be the player that other teams game plan for, and that he can still deliver from week to week.
We saw that number one ability against the eventual Super Bowl champion Seahawks with Evans out with a hamstring injury. He totaled 7 catches for 163 yards and a touchdown in Tampa Bay’s 38-35 overtime win in Seattle.
But he only surpassed 45 receiving yards once in the Bucs’ final eight games of the season, which coincided with a collapse that saw Tampa Bay lose the division in the final weekend to the Carolina Panthers.
The Bucs drafted Egbuka to be an heir apparent to Evans. The time to prove that starts in September.