Jon Gruden: Emeka Egbuka Is “Top Of The Food Chain”
April 25th, 2025
Barstool Sports NFL analyst and Bucs Super Bowl-winning head coach Jon Gruden, aka Chucky.
Consider Jon Gruden stunned and intrigued.
Working the Barstool Sports live NFL Draft show last night, Gruden showered Ohio State wide receiver Emeka Egbuka with praise long before the Bucs drafted him at No. 19 overall. But with the Bucs on the clock, Chucky was adamant the Bucs needed to draft a stud edge rusher, or a least defensive players at other positions.
He was clear that edge rushers Mike Green (Marshall) or Donovan Ezeiruaku (Boston College) were picks that could “solve some problems” in the Tampa Bay defense.
And then came the Bucs’ drafting of Egbuka.
“Go through the history of the wide receiver position at Ohio State, this guy’s at the top of the food chain if statistics matter,” Chucky said. “Two back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons. He can run all the routes you can draw up in the slot. He can line up on the outside. He’s a punt returner. He’s a great kid. He’s ready to roll. This guy’s been training like a pro.”
Chucky noted how Ohio State quarterback Will Howard was part of his pre-draft QB camp and couldn’t stop raving about Egbuka.
Lastly, Gruden seemed in disbelief by how difficult the Bucs offense is — and will now be to defend with Egbuka. Gruden is a huge Bucky Irving and Baker Mayfield guy, and he sees no holes in the Bucs’ attack.
April 25th, 2025 at 1:47 am
Jason Licht reminded us he’s human, once again. Stupid pick when you had so many defensive options. He’s a great GM but let’s not forget his awful selections in the past.
April 25th, 2025 at 1:47 am
Yeah, you have to admit that offensively we’re a Straight Up MONSTER! I mean come on…. How do you defend against us? We have “IT ALL”.
Now it still feels like a luxury pick considering I personally believe us to be seriously out of balance in our defense. No Doubt. BUT at the end of the day, the team with the Most Points WIN…. So there IS THAT!
April 25th, 2025 at 1:50 am
Btw, did you guys see Todd Bowles “waddling” back and forth once he stood up and walk a few steps? Ooof!
Looks like he put on ANOTHER 50lbs this winter… He IS NOT the picture of health!
April 25th, 2025 at 2:22 am
Genius move by the best GM in the NFL and in team history. He and the head coach both know the defensive coordinator hasn’t been able to coach anyone up in his last system, so better get on with scoring more points than your opponent while you start cooking the new scheme in the crockpot.
Let’s go!
April 25th, 2025 at 2:41 am
Doesn’t any one complaining see how defensive players have slid into the 2nd round? We will be good as long as day 2 is a full dose of defensive picks. I’ll wait to hear you guys complaining when one of our top 2 WRs hobble off mid-season. This pick gives Chris Godwin more time to heal instead of rushing back. I’m good with that.
April 25th, 2025 at 2:54 am
Complete Godwin clone.
Completely fine with pick.
April 25th, 2025 at 3:00 am
Rod Stewart Says:
April 25th, 2025 at 1:47 am
Jason Licht reminded us he’s human, once again. Stupid pick when you had so many defensive options. He’s a great GM but let’s not forget his awful selections in the past.
^^^^^^^^^^
Don’t you think it’s a little early to call it a “stupid pick”? Who would’ve you taken? Let’s see where your player is in 3 or 4 years.
April 25th, 2025 at 3:02 am
He’ a player.
Win some more after Evans and Godwin are gone.
Or are they?
April 25th, 2025 at 3:14 am
“You win by scoring more points than your opponent.”
There’s two sides to that record.
You win by holding your opponent to less points than you.
This was not Licht’s finest moment.
The Bucs had little trouble scoring points last year, even after Godwin went down, but all of us watched as time and time again this defense couldn’t stop anybody, especially when it counted.
So what does Licht do?
Spends 14 mil on an aging pass rusher with one sack last year and takes a receiver in Round 1.
I’m calling these moves a mistake, albeit a mistake where I sure hope I’m wrong.
Eagles defense mauled Mahomes in the Super Bowl. They must have been licking their chops after watching teams allow them to grab Campbell.
You win by holding your opponent to less points than you!!
April 25th, 2025 at 4:34 am
I think I might be evil, my favorite part of the draft is to watch grown men cry over players picked for their team. Not just my own team either , I still remember how people hated the VV pick with D.James was on the board.
April 25th, 2025 at 5:37 am
wow , defenses win championships. Day 2 better be all about defense.
April 25th, 2025 at 5:48 am
I trust Jason. I deff see the reasons why we drafted a WR. The plan better be to put up 100 pts a game with the way our defense plays lol. Only time will tell if this was the right pick
April 25th, 2025 at 6:11 am
It’s an offensive league. Outside of Carter the rest of the edge rushers were all the same
Fans are getting to worked up about where players are chosen, rather than who is being chosen. We’ll get a corner, a DT, etc, we have 5 picks left. The draft is a cfap shoot after all. The 3rd round edge could very well turn out better than the 1st round edge. We drafted JTS in the first round, enough said.
April 25th, 2025 at 7:21 am
Love this pick. All the reasons mentioned above—plus, we have a new offensive coordinator. Giving him another tool to succeed in his first year as well as insurance if Evans or Godwin goes down is a good thing, bc this team is going to continue to live or die by its offense for the short term. Team’s been lucky the last few years to have success with new and first time OCs but you can’t take it for granted. Remember last year when Otton was basically receiver 1 option for a short time? Licht will probably pick a bunch of defensive players that people will howl about too, but people are going to complain about anyone that’s not “their guy”
April 25th, 2025 at 7:22 am
I believe EE is the osu leader for catches and second for yards. Plus. He did that one year playing with sorry Kyle mccord at qb.