Tampa Bay Buccaneeers star wide receiver Emeka Egbuka received some criticism, especially from jealous NFC rivals, last season in the second half of the campaign when the Bucs completely fell apart, but he had to take on a lot of responsibility that isn't normal for a rookie wide receiver after both Mike Evans and Chris Godwin Jr. went down with injuries.
Egbuka, all told, had a great rookie wide receiver season and was highly productive. He made plays down the field and probably would have had better numbers if Baker Mayfield's arm wasn't impacted by playing through another significant injury. He missed him on quite a few nice plays or hesitated at the moment Egbuka had gotten open.
The rest of the NFL world is objectively as high on the Buccaneers young wideout as the fans in Tampa Bay are. Fantasy gurus are tabbing Egbuka as a must own player, especially in dynasty leagues, as Evans's departure to the San Francisco 49ers makes him a big winner in target share - and Godwin will still be there to relieve some pressure off him.
Emeka Egbuka could be an All-Pro for Buccaneers in 2026
Recently, the NFL Network's Matt Okada penned a piece about the breakout second year players in the NFL this coming season, and he has Emeka Egbuka tabbed as a First Team All-Pro in the 2026 campaign.
Okada said of Egbuka, "The 19th overall pick out of Ohio State suffered a hamstring injury in Week 6 and was never really the same down the stretch. He finished just shy of 1,000 yards with six touchdowns, scoring only once after his injury. Had he been able to continue his elite early-season analytics pace across a full 17-game stretch, Egbuka was set to record 2.5 yards per route run, an 11.8 percent catch rate over expected and 0.7 EPA per target, per NFL Pro. That's jaw-dropping production."
There is no doubt that Egbuka has the quality to be one of the league's best wide receivers within a couple of seasons, and even Detroit Lions legend Calvin Johnson was talking about him already as someone with the future upside to break his single season record one day.
That is the caliber of player we are talking about here. Egbuka was special at Ohio State, and people in the know can see that he was special as a rookie for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. A First Team All-Pro is a crazy lofty goal for a young receiver, but with Baker Mayfield at QB and a better offensive coordinator, the ingredients are there for "Egbigboo".
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