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Baker Mayfield had the best reaction to Buccaneers drafting Emeka Egbuka

Josh Hill
Josh Hill

The Pewter Plank

Tampa Bay Buccaneers QB Baker Mayfield had the best reaction to the team taking Emeka Egbuka in the NFL Draft. / Elsa/GettyImages

We had a bit of an NFL Draft stunner when it came to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers pick on Thursday night. After hearing almost non-stop for two months that the team was going to draft a defensive player, Jason Licht zagged when everyone expected him to zig and took an offensive player.

Not only that, he took a wide receiver, which was about the only position on the roster the team didn't need to address. Tampa Bay spent over $60 million to bring back Chris Godwin in free agency and already has Mike Evans, Cade Otton, and Jalen McMillan on the roster.

That didn't stop the team from drafting wide receiver Emeka Egbuka with the No. 19 pick, an absolute shocker that has already polarized the fan base.

It's not that Egbuka is a bad pick -- many believe he's the best wide receiver in the draft outside of Travis Hunter -- rather it was that the Bucs chose to bypass addressing positions of need to get him. Linebacker was an area that was expected to be addressed, as was edge rusher and cornerback. Most of the players Tampa Bay was mocked to take ended up sliding to them at No. 19 but Egbuka being there was unexpected and the team wasted no time in making a move.

While some fans might be perplexed by the decision, Baker Mayfield was not.

Baker Mayfield had the best reaction to Buccaneers drafting Emeka Egbuka

Jason Licht spoke to the media after the pick was made and gave some insight into how Baker reacted when he told him what the pick would be.

It doesn't take a genius to read between the lines of what 'something' means, or what the actual words were.

Drafting Egbuka over addressing clear defensive needs is certainly a choice but it's one that is also an investment in Baker and the offense. It's also a direct signal to first-year offensive coordinator Josh Grizzard, who now has the sort of arsenal at his disposal that none of his predessors had.

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Josh Hill

Josh Hill

Josh Hill is a Content Director for the FanSided Network and has been the site expert at The Pewter Plank since 2023. Previously, he was Editorial Director of FanSided.com from 2018 until 2022 and has been a content creator covering sports media since 2010. His work has been featured on Sports Illustrated, FOX Sports, and Yahoo! Sports. His work covering the Tampa Bay Buccaneers has been featured on The Pewter Plank since 2010, and he has written over 5,000 stories on the Bucs. He's been a fan ever since he first watched the Tony Dungy-led teams of the 90s, where John Lynch, Ronde Barber, and Warrick Dunn won his heart over -- and the 1999 NFC Championship game was his introduction to sports pain.