Coaches’ Telling First Impressions Of Emeka Egbuka
May 20th, 2025
Bucs QB coach Thad Lewis reacts to hearing Emeka Egbuka’s name the first time in Tuesday’s press conference.
Joe is big on first impressions. They often tell the whole story.
And two Bucs assistants played a very bad hand of poker this morning at One Buc Palace when asked about Bucs’ first-round draft pick Emeka Egbuka.
A guy heavily involved in the research on Egbuka is Bucs’ first-year offensive coordinator Josh Grizzard. When he fielded his first question about Egbuka, his very first words out of his mouth were citing Egbuka being a “tough” player.
In football coaches’ vernacular, “tough” is a coveted virtue. Shortly after, Grizzard reinforced the “tough” comment again.
(Of course, this begs the question about how one can display toughness in underwear football when you cannot hit and there’s no contact.)
But the best reaction about Egbuka was non-verbal. It was a coach bursting out in glee as if a young boy just found a creamsicle Bucky Irving jersey under the Christmas tree.
When quarterback coach Thad Lewis was asked about Egbuka, he nearly erupted and openly began giggling.
It’s been a while since Joe has seen/heard coaches gush about a rookie like that just from OTAs. Joe’s not much of an underwear football guy but the way Grizzard and Lewis reacted, Joe’s looking forward to next week when the Bucs allow the local pen and mic club to watch one practice.
Yes, Joe has seen Egbuka in underwear football at rookie minicamp. But Joe is eager to see what he does with a competent quarterback and Egbuka finding space against the Bucs’ defense, if he can.
May 20th, 2025 at 12:45 pm
This is a great pick. Licht the genius doing Licht things.
May 20th, 2025 at 12:57 pm
Didn’t like the pick initially but he’s growing in me. I felt defense was the major 1st need but explosive offensive players that can contribute right away is a win.
May 20th, 2025 at 1:57 pm
Goodbucin’life, I’m feeling tag on that sediment. Can’t wait for camp.
May 20th, 2025 at 2:04 pm
A small Buc offensive issue in Bowles era was failure to score in red zone, especially ripping their running plays and getting stopped. Having Egbuka is a big help as he is bigger and stronger than McMillan and will run routes that get him open quicker. Having a rookie who is already polished will help this red zone offense to be highly effective.
May 20th, 2025 at 2:33 pm
Last time coaches “gushed” about a rookie WR at OBP was in 2017 – talking about Chris Godwin – they said things like he knew every detail and conducted himself like a veteran presence in the locker room from day 1.
Getting the same vibe from comments about Egbuka….
Some people are like – yea – but Godwin was a 3rd round pick… EE was top 20.
To that I say – If the 2017 draft were to be re-drafted based on pre-knowledge of future production – Chris Godwin would have been the #10 or #11 pick that year.
May 20th, 2025 at 3:14 pm
Pickgrin
Brady was a 6th rounder, Brad Johnson a 9th rounder (today that would be an UDFA)
I worry about results not draft position. And you are so correct that when you base Godwin’s results, just like Brady and Johnson the league made a mistake.