The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have one of the most talented wide receivers in the NFL in Emeka Egbuka, a 2025 first-round pick out of Ohio State who had a very encouraging rookie season with nearly 1,000 receiving yards despite playing in an offense that was decimated by injuries and outright dysfunctional throughout the second half of the 2025 NFL regular season.
Egbuka thought he would be in for a breakout campaign in 2026, but, so far, he has been one of the NFL's biggest disappointments and an outright disaster for anyone who drafted him to their fantasy team. Maybe that last part isn't as true after Egbuka hit the Dallas Cowboys defense for a chunk gain and a rushing touchdown, but that gimmicky play does not change the fact that "Egbigboo's" output as a wide receiver has been quite poor, especially when you compare it to his production last year.
Emeka Egbuka's production has fallen off a cliff
Through five weeks, Egbuka has hauled in just 21 passes for 192 yards. He's averaging 38 yards per game, yards per reception average is only 9.1 with a ghastly yards per target average of 5.8. That means if a quarterback only targeted Egbuka, they would be one of the least efficient and worst overall passers in the NFL, averaging fewer than six yards per attempt.
Through the first five games of his rookie season in 2025, Egbula had 25 catches for 445 yards, goof for 89 yards per game and a whopping 17.8 yards per reception. Perhaps those gaudy numbers weren't unsustainable, and while it was expected that Egbuka would come back down to earth, nobody expected the decline to be so steep.
The only other players on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers averaging fewer yards per target this season are the literal running backs Bucky Irving and Kenny Gainwell. Even Cade Otton gets more yards per target than Egbuka at 6.7, and he's one of the most underwhelming pass catching tight ends in the NFL. The other receivers, Ted Hurst and Chris Godwin, are averaging at least 8.0 yards per target, which is very respectable, given the quarterback play.
And yes, the quarterback play from Baker Mayfield and Jalon Daniels hasn't exactly been ideal, but Daniels did play well in the win over the Dallas Cowboys on Thursday night. And yet, as a receiver, Egbuka was still terrible.
The numbers don't lie. Emeka Egbuka has been the worst wide receiver on the team, and while the circumstances are not ideal for the Bucs, Tez Johnson, Chris Godwin, and the others are taking advantage of their opportunities. Egbuka has no excuse, and he still could only turn a whopping 9 targets into 38 receiving yards against the awful Dallas defense with Daniels playing well.
Perhaps it's a product of how he's being utilized in Zac Robinson's offense, or maybe he's really just going through a sophomore slump. Whatever the issue is, Egbuka has to do better than this, as the strong start to his rookie campaign is starting to look like a flash in the pan with heights he'll never return to.
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