Baker Mayfield On “Cerebral” Emeka Egbuka
June 10th, 2025
Has Baker Mayfield smiling.
It sounds like Bucs rookie first-round draft pick Emeka Egbuka is already a starter, to hear Baker Mayfield speak of him.
Today after underwear football practice, which was the first of three minicamp practices, the starting quarterback absolutely raved about Egbuka. It sounds like Egbuka was the perfect pick; Mayfield glowed, saying how Egbuka has fit the Bucs’ offense like a glove.
“At this level, you have to have talent, and obviously he has that, being a first-round draft pick,” Mayfield said. “The thing that sticks out is how cerebral he is. He’s so smart.
“Right now, I think we could plug-and-play him at every [wide] receiver spot – he understands the offense that well. That’s just him being a pro already. He’s not a rookie – he doesn’t act like it at least.”
The ready-to-play-anywhere description of Egbuka got Joe fired up. If Egbuka can handle all receiver responsibilities, that tells Joe defenses are going to have to play him honest. They don’t know what he’s going to do.
That will help spread the defense out and should create even more opportunities for Egbuka to get open, not that he’s having trouble with that, as Mayfield noted.
“He takes it really [seriously],” Mayfield said of practice. “He’s in constant communication – he always wants to be in the right spot at the right time.
“He’s much like J-Mac [Jalen McMillan in] the understanding of zone coverage – and like Chris [Godwin], as well – of understanding when to be open, the voids in the zone defense, and how to be friendly to the quarterback. It’s a nice luxury to have.”
Be friendly to the quarterback, eh? This Egbuka knows where his bread is buttered. Be “friendly” to the QB and a receiver will get targets.
Now Joe has written the following before but Joe also saw it again today. Egbuka’s first or second step coming out of breaks is pretty quick. That helps him get an edge on defensive backs and allows him to get enough separation to put himself in position to make a catch.
As far as Mayfield mentioning how seriously Egbuka takes practices, Joe has noticed Mayfield is not the first player to say that about Egbuka.
No wonder the Bucs aren’t in a rush to get Chris Godwin back on the field.
June 10th, 2025 at 4:27 pm
Given the ability of Otten to play in the slot, the rbs ability to catch and play out of the slot and EEs agnostic ability to play anywhere, Grizzard is going to be able to mix and match anywhere he likes.
June 10th, 2025 at 4:28 pm
This is shaping up to be one hell of a WR corps…We may be a problem from top to bottom!!
June 10th, 2025 at 4:49 pm
I think everyone recognizes that if everyone stays healthy this offense is going to roll people. The prominent question now is how much improvement will we see in our defensive pass rush and secondary. Looks good on paper, but will it show on Sundays?
June 10th, 2025 at 5:01 pm
Underwear football is played during talking season. They are all saying the right things. True things? Maybe, maybe not. Everyone gushes over everyone else when you are undefeated. Let’s just get to August without injuries. And then to September.
June 10th, 2025 at 5:18 pm
That’s cerebral calling out cerebral. That presser Baker did today makes you proud to be a Bucs fan. That dude is impressive. A great spokesperson for this team and organization. Love it!
June 10th, 2025 at 5:20 pm
Good stuff on Buka! It is getting excited with all this talent. So far so good and we have a fantastic roster coming together.
June 10th, 2025 at 6:21 pm
Lets just hope he is “Cerebral” enough in training camp to duck, so some other rookie tring to make the team, does not ring his bell…….Go Bucs
June 10th, 2025 at 7:05 pm
Adios Trey Palmer, Kameron’s Johnson and Rakim Jarrett.
June 11th, 2025 at 3:56 am
ROY candidate?
That will be very hard considering how stacked we are at WR but you never know.
When I heard the word smooth about Buka I kinda went yea right…I have heard those kinda things about alot of guys…But apparently this is an understatement and he has already got the offense about figured out. That, for a rookie at OTAs is amazing to me.
Go Bucs!
June 11th, 2025 at 6:36 am
just give him a gold jacket already! lol cerebral.
i hope he is tough enough and wish him well, a long career and great success.