Will Emeka Egbuka Finally Break The Curse Of No. 9
May 9th, 2025
No more No. 2.
This morning, Bucs rookie minicamp opens.
Rookies drafted, undrafted and tryout dudes alike will try to impress their new NFL coaches to become NFL players.
Or at least camp meat for the summer.
Most will be gone by Sunday, some never to snap on a helmet again.
And since coaches aren’t yet quite familiar with the players, they will be ID’ed by numbers. Yesterday, the Bucs released those numbers.
First-round pick Emeka Egbuka will wear No. 9. That was previously worn by Joe Tryon-Shoyinka.
If you look at all the Bucs who wore No. 9, it’s a pretty milquetoast list on names. None jump out at make Joe say, “Oh, yeah!”
(Yes, Kyle Trask got to keep his No. 2.)
For Joe, the best (?) of the lot may have been former Ohio State quarterback/punter Tom Tupa, the Bucs’ punter in their first Super Bowl season and No. 4 quarterback.
When JTS played here, “This Joe” swears he only made one impact play. That was the last game of the 2023 season at Carolina. The Bucs needed to win to wrap up the division and Baker Mayfield was crippled. He was hurt the previous week and shouldn’t have been on the field. The Bucs clearly had him in bubble wrap.
With the game close in the final minutes, JTS got a strip/sack of Bryce Young with the fumble recovered by Greg Gaines.
The Bucs killed the clock and became NFC South champs. Again.
Joe has a hunch Egbuka could match JTS for impact plays on the Bucs’ very first possession of the season.
Rookie jersey numbers are officially here 👀 pic.twitter.com/CbY4lMGhka
— Tampa Bay Buccaneers (@Buccaneers) May 8, 2025
May 9th, 2025 at 12:17 am
What curse?
May 9th, 2025 at 12:48 am
Won’t take long for that number to have a new meaning
May 9th, 2025 at 1:07 am
Here’s to making VJ proud.
May 9th, 2025 at 2:13 am
In terms of JTS – not a curse so much as invisible.
May 9th, 2025 at 2:37 am
JTS also had the best punt block in Bucs history.
It’s not his fault.
He wasn’t strong enough to play OLB in this defense.
May 9th, 2025 at 4:48 am
Thank you for the link of the players that wore number 9. I can’t believe I had forgotten about some of them including Matt Gay.
Emeka will do well, not worried.
May 9th, 2025 at 5:27 am
So JTS was an embarassment to all those punters?
LOL
Go Bucs!
May 9th, 2025 at 5:31 am
Yay The Return of Plan 9!!
May 9th, 2025 at 5:54 am
JTS just wasn’t powerful.
May 9th, 2025 at 5:55 am
Can someone explain to me the reason we continued to hang on to JTS year in and year out despite his shortcomings n bone head plays? Why, why,why? This guy was outta his league. He wasn’t mentally nor physically fit to play on this level. I don’t know what’s going on in the eyes of our coaches but I know what I saw. He would be lost like a new kid playing pop Warner for the first time. QB fumbled the ball n he’s trying to make the tackle vs getting the ball. QB throws underhand pass right in his hands n he bats the ball down. QB throws ball in his range of motion maybe an inch or two over his head and at 6’5 with the opportunity to jump up gor int, he just allows pass to go over his head. I just don’t get it. OJHoward did the same but on offense. He was a timid blocker n afraid to do so most of the time. Did not hustle, n would not stretch out to catch a pass. We have one more. JDean. He’s a dud. He’s fragile, plays stiff n timid n has poor hand eye coordination. He should’ve been gone two years ago. I’d rather we kept Carton Davis n let Dean go. This must stop.
May 9th, 2025 at 6:25 am
No jinx. JTS is gone. Who’s going to be the next scapegoat?
I’m on to OTA’s!
May 9th, 2025 at 7:17 am
dmatt,
Be careful with your comments here. Jamel Dean has a loyal fan club on these pages. Hard to understand why since he is a prominent part of one of the NFL’s worst pass defenses. Heard many of the same crew that feverishly supports Dean, bash Mayfield when he became Bus starter. Go figure.
May 9th, 2025 at 7:33 am
Taz got a good number. If memory serves correct, that was Joe Jurevicius’s number.
May 9th, 2025 at 7:44 am
I have a feeling JTS is going to surprise us with a different scheme/coach. There is no clear history of the bucs developing an edge rusher. Leeroy was the only anomaly in the lot.
May 9th, 2025 at 7:47 am
I’m curious who the mob will pick for their whipping boy this year now that JTS and Hainsey are gone, and Goedeke just made you look foolish for beating on a rookie playing out of position, on the wrong side, between 2 lugs before being properly placed in his natural/college position of RT. Ah yes, you still have Dean and Bowles…let the bitter armchair coaching commense
May 9th, 2025 at 8:16 am
I know Todd Bowles has his OLBs finally more then just rush the passer just think how many sacks they might have if they could just worry about pass rushing
May 9th, 2025 at 8:24 am
Dean is far more effective than most in the NFL, but he regularly misses a third of each year’s games. I’m thinking he makes about $1.2 million per game actually PLAYED, which is a good price
May 9th, 2025 at 8:28 am
It’s called “investment.” When businesses sink millions into an investment, they aren’t going to give up on the investment very easily.
May 9th, 2025 at 8:31 am
Jamel Dean.
But you are right. Joe’s written this a few times over the years. Bucs fans have to have a guy to hate. Almost every year it’s a new dude.
Some (JTS) are deserving. Some (GMC) are not.
May 9th, 2025 at 8:34 am
Gip… I’d say there’s just as many Dean haters on here.
Don’t have a problem with Dean, he just gets hurt a lot. He’s a decent corner back and he does tackle well. He just seems to hurt himself doing those tackles. But I think Morrison has a chance to be a great cornerback, a pure lockdown guy we’ve never had. We’ve had some pretty good cornerbacks over the years, but none better than Barber. We finally got a guy that should have been a high pick, is a ball hawk and has all the traits of a pro-bowl CB as long with having high character and seems to be an extreme overachiever. Hopefully his hip is A okay and he eventually takes Dean’s spot, not to hate on Dean, but because he’s just that much better of a corner.
May 9th, 2025 at 8:44 am
Joe,
I’d contend that GMC was a fine player, but had zero dog in him and was the antithesis of a defensive lineman mentality.
Apologizing for sacking Big Ben on MNF was all I needed to see, “sorry Ben!” On a clean hit and then the official threw the flag for roughing bc GMC was apologizing for playing football.
Take note of how Arians didn’t resign GMC and immediately brought in Suh and traded for JPP. Those guys are anything but mentally soft. Remember the leaked audio of JPP yelling at guys in the locker room in 2019? It was glorious to have real-life, actual leadership with the mentality to back it up.
With all of that said, GMC was not hated, but was absolutely, and rightly criticized for having a “soft -serve” mentality.
May 9th, 2025 at 8:47 am
Right or wrong, GMC and Freeman were not the answer to our leadership
Woes. They were talented, first round picks, but not “dogs”.
May 9th, 2025 at 8:52 am
The Deftones have a great song called Engine No. 9. They should play that whenever E2 makes a big play.
May 9th, 2025 at 9:30 am
One thing people should remember when they criticize our defense is Barber made most of his huge plays out of the Tampa 2 scheme- a *zone* defense. So playing tight man is useful, but can cause big plays if you don’t have lockdown coverage people everywhere. With this many good, fast, corners we may just be able to pull it off…
Would be great if we played a lot more man if we have the coverage chops to pull it off.
May 9th, 2025 at 10:10 am
Licht loved JTS and kept him around despite all the game day evidence that he was a bust.
He’s really terrible at drafting defense overall and evaluations on most.
Until proven otherwise I remain skeptical at best.
He sure can choose good free agents on defense, that I will give him.
His drafting leaves a lot to be desired.
Remember folks, he drafted Winston. That was an F-.
May 9th, 2025 at 10:19 am
Some say that Lovie drafted Winston as he was hired first and had draft control, then, inspite of themselves, the Bucs hired a pro bowl GM. I think the Glazers after talking to Licht saw who the real gem was between him and Lovie. The best thing to come from that era. And Winston WAS the best player to draft that year no doubt about it, just didn’t work out. That is what is frustrating that the guy had everything going for him and still was a bust, hard to fathom.
May 9th, 2025 at 10:38 am
I wouldn’t rush to get a #9 jersey…next year #2 will probably be available and can see him switching.
May 9th, 2025 at 10:46 am
Trask hasn’t done enough to hold onto the #2, give it to EE
May 9th, 2025 at 11:15 am
There is no curse.
May 9th, 2025 at 11:25 am
dmatt Says:
May 9th, 2025 at 5:55 am
Can someone explain to me the reason we continued to hang on to JTS year in and year out despite his shortcomings n bone head plays? Why, why,why
This is exactly my feelings regarding Plan 9. We were desperately hanging on in games and JTS was out there running around nowhere near the ball. It was disgusting. I don’t look for a player to hate on. GMC was OK to me. JTS should have been in the TE room. No, that would mean he’d have to block. So cut him 3 years ago. He was somebodies’ vanity project.
May 9th, 2025 at 12:07 pm
I see a lot of comments about JTS and power. True, he was not powerful but his problem was playing to the blocker instead of playing to the QB. Basically I would see him complete a move and then never finish… constantly. Engaging the blocker seemed to be the goal instead of the obstacle on his way to the goal.