How Emeka Egbuka Handles New Role
November 27th, 2025
Adjusting like a pro.
When a rookie gets off to a fast start, it’s just a matter of time before the opposition adjusts.
And that’s partially why Bucs rookie receiver Emeka Egbuka has seen his numbers shrink in recent weeks.
Beginning with the win over San Francisco, with both Mike Evans and Chris Godwin out, Egbuka’s numbers have slipped. He quickly went from a wet-behind-the-ears rookie to a marked man.
Starting with the 49ers, Egbuka has had just one game with over 100 yards receiving. That came against the Patriots — 115 yards and a touchdown.
Egbuka had five touchdown catches in his first five games. He’s had one in his last six. Egbuka is very much on the radar of opposing defensive coordinators.
With Evans and Godwin gone, Egbuka is regularly double-teamed. (Yes, Joe knows Godwin came back last week in a limited role and barely played in the second half.) Opposing defenses aren’t that worried about Sterling Shepard or Tez Johnson, and they’ve done a solid job of keeping Egbuka under wraps.
So is Egbuka freaking out? Baker Mayfield said Egbuka is as professional as an eight-year vet.
“I think it’s incredibly difficult for most people to do it,” Mayfield said of Egbuka’s role changing midseason. “I think because of the way he’s built and he’s wired – even I take it for granted sometimes how easy it is for him to be able to play three different positions and be able to have the route conversions and be able to go in there and play different spots.
“So, it’s really a testament to him that he’s able to do it, because it’s not easy to go from being – not that he was ever the second option – but you’re dealing with the guy in Mike Evans, who’s a first-ballot Hall of Famer, and now you’re kind of shifting into that role.
“So, his production for the most part has stayed up. I know it’s been asked at times on [if] he’s getting doubled now and this and that, and I think he’s done a good job with that too. He continues to prepare the same way, whether he had a big game or a game that we tried to get him the ball more.”
It’s too bad Johnson, not since San Francisco, couldn’t blow up one game to take maybe take heat off Egbuka. Hopefully, Godwin will soon.
Joe sure hopes Mike Evans returns in shape enough to force defenses not to focus so much on neutralizing Egbuka.
November 27th, 2025 at 12:02 pm
We seem to be relying totally on hope right now. That’s never good.
November 27th, 2025 at 12:11 pm
He’s had opportunities to be as productive, but yeah, no blame for Baker is the best way to put it. The film must be lying.
November 27th, 2025 at 12:18 pm
Mike Evans will return at full speed and raring to go.
November 27th, 2025 at 12:28 pm
We have a chance for a great offense and should draft a monster TE & another WR and a 6th Olineman.
The defense is hopeless….go with a 40 point per game offense.
November 27th, 2025 at 12:32 pm
Mek has been getting open, but Baker has been missing the mark constantly.
I see that Ragnow came out of retirement to help the lions, can we get Marpet to come out of retirement to replace these garbage 3rd string guards?
November 27th, 2025 at 12:45 pm
WE WILL BE FINE WHEN MIKE OR J MAC OR GODWIN RETURN. THEY CANT DOUBLE COVER THEM ALL .SOMEONE WILL BE OPEN ! NOT MY WORRY .DRFENCE IS THE BIG WORRY ! PLAY CALLING IS A BIG WORRY !
November 27th, 2025 at 12:45 pm
Jughead
Marpet weighs half what he played at.. no help there
November 27th, 2025 at 1:08 pm
I had him as OROTY this year.
November 27th, 2025 at 1:23 pm
I think Johnson will blow up one game, Baker does not throw to him as much as Egbuka–look at his targets. Johnson takes full advantage and has been very productive with what he has gotten.
November 27th, 2025 at 1:40 pm
Tampabaybucfan Says:
November 27th, 2025 at 12:28 pm
We have a chance for a great offense and should draft a monster TE & another WR and a 6th Olineman.
The defense is hopeless….go with a 40 point per game offense.
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What do we do about the defense?
November 27th, 2025 at 1:40 pm
Watching other teams that have defenses that run and hit and tackle and rush the passer and cover people makes me really jealous.
They aren’t bored, I guess.
November 27th, 2025 at 1:46 pm
The future is bright! What other team in the NFL has lost its top three receivers for half or more of the season this year or any year and stayed competitive,
November 27th, 2025 at 1:47 pm
Tampabaybucfan, that is against everything Bowles believes in. He had that option in the past and blew it.
November 27th, 2025 at 1:47 pm
Did I forget to mention Patriots are 10 & 2?
November 27th, 2025 at 1:50 pm
Yeah and the coaching staff is the best. If the Bucs loses against the cardinals the season is over.
November 27th, 2025 at 2:19 pm
Season wont be over if they lose but it would be crushing knowing this team is a bunch of frauds with a hot start and what we hoped for early on was a superbowl run only for Bowles to mess that up
November 27th, 2025 at 2:23 pm
This is something that has had me ‘thinking’ for some time now… EE has never been a #1-WR. He was always the (solid and steady) #2 while at Ohio State. HE thrived in that role. Also, everyone has been SO impressed with his maturity, & etc. Hell, he was at THE Ohio State for 10-YEARS, and was like 30-YEARS OLD, by the time he’d left Hahahah. It really did seem like it tho LoL. I watched him in at least 30+ of his games there! That’s how I knew exactly who we were getting. HE was probably THE ‘SAFEST’ Pick in the entire draft. He’s going to have a long career in the league. Good Player. So is JMac (if he can get back, stay back, and play smart, while not completely losing his fearlessness). You put those two with a TRUE #1-STUD WR (in free-agency, or the 2027 draft), then we’re really gonna have something here, for a LONG TIME. And, it will be LOTS of FUN to watch, whether it’s Baker throwing them the ball, or whomever. It would definitely make life MUCH MORE easier for a young ‘rookie’ QB (and with our young O-Line)… SHEW!!!! It would put them in a GrrrREAT position to succeed, especially with a YOUNG modern day STUD of a Head Coach.
November 27th, 2025 at 2:30 pm
Tampabaybucfan Says:
November 27th, 2025 at 12:28 pm
We have a chance for a great offense and should draft a monster TE & another WR and a 6th Olineman.
The defense is hopeless….go with a 40 point per game offense.
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We should also acquire a monster DE and an ILB.
November 27th, 2025 at 2:32 pm
Jmarkbuc Says: “Marpet weighs half what he played at.. no help there.”
That was exactly what I was going to say! He’d need to put on another 100-150+ POUNDS. It’s amazing how fast (in a matter of just a couple of MONTHS) most of those O-Linemen can get into ‘normal’ people shape immediately after they retire.
November 27th, 2025 at 2:46 pm
And, oh yeah… Bout forgot about Ol’ TEZ! Was just thinking this the other night.. Throw him in there as our #4 option, along with those guys mentioned above. With Bucky, and another young RB. This FO is going to have to blow this up ASAP and get a LEGIT Big-Time, HOMERUN-hire for our next (top-tier level) Head Coach. And, give him control over who and what HE WANTS (in the draft AND in free-agency)… Cause, the ‘pieces’ are there, on Offense. Get the ‘right’ YOUNG and AGRESSIVE (high-energy) Defensive Coordinator, and rebuild this defense in the RIGHT way… With all DAWGS from big POWER schools. 5-star ATHLETES, who LOVE football. Whatever. It. TAKES. Just get-it DONE ALREADY. Stop wasting more time, with this same-old BS. Cause, that is exactly what we have done… Just WASTED. Whatever the cost… go out and GET “THE GUY!” Just make-it happen.
November 27th, 2025 at 2:47 pm
e2 has been great, the QB play since the Lions game has not – although Baker was mostly good during the Bills game. But, assuming Mayfield follows the same path he’s followed every year, he should snap out of his yearly mid-year slump either this week (if he plays) and then finally the offense should get back on track. It’s not all Baker to be sure, losing both guards, having to start a scrub like Shepard, those are things that make everything a lot more difficult. For Tez, for a 7th rounder, he’s been great – and I think I was way higher on him than most heading into the season – but he’s great as a depth WR, the fact he’s also starting, along with a washed up Sterling, well those expensive contracts WR’s get are for a reason.
November 27th, 2025 at 4:08 pm
and this is the thing that people outside of Tampa miss about Evans. He spent years in his early career with subpar talent around him and it didn’t matter. Double teams? didn’t matter. 1000 yards a season for ELEVEN straight season. Theres a reason that only Jerry Rice has done that other than Mike.
November 27th, 2025 at 4:26 pm
Rod … ‘e2 has been great, the QB play since the Lions game has not’.
I’m convinced that Egbuka will be a star one day, but today’s not the day. Melvin Junior nailed it when he said that ‘EE has never been a #1-WR. He was always the (solid and steady) #2 while at Ohio State.’
Mike Evans played in E2’s first 3 games, and E2 did fantastic … caught 14-of-21 (66.7%) for 181 yds & 3 TDs. Evans played none of the next 3 games, but E2 still caught 13-of-21 (61.9%) for 288 yds & 2 TDs. Apparently our opponents hadn’t yet adjusted.
But then Evans came back for a bit in the Lions game, got hurt & hasn’t been back in; E2 became the default #1 WR. Starting in that Lions game, E2 is 21-for-51 (41.2%) for 280 yds & 0 TDs. That’s a huge dropoff in these last 5 games. And not coincidentally the Bucs are 1-4 in those last 5 games, with the sole win coming against the lowly Saints … thanks to 4 turnovers by the Saints, a Pick-6, a 1-yd rush & 3 FGs. Passing game? Not a factor.
So ya, Baker’s passing starting with the Lions game has been ‘circumspect’. Of course, so has our OLine’s pass protection. And Baker has been pretty well dinged up himself during these past few games. Baker playing hurt is not the answer to our woes; he needs time to heal up. And now that Chris Godwin is back in the lineup, even if only at 80% or 90%, that’ll take some attention off of Egbuka.
But our real salvation for these last 6 games lies in 2 thing. First, our defense HAS TO IMPROVE. We’ll go nowhere with a defense like we’ve had in these past 3 games. Second, we need to heavily rely on the RUN GAME because this OLine is still shaky in pass protection, but they’re doing respectable in run-blocking. Godwin & Egbuka can help some, but we need a dominant RUN GAME to win out.
November 27th, 2025 at 4:29 pm
Win tomorrow and we have the same record as the mighty Detroit Lions.
November 27th, 2025 at 5:55 pm
Is he a one?
Not sure
November 27th, 2025 at 7:38 pm
A true X receiver like Evans is rare. I love Egbuka but he’s not a true X receiver.
November 27th, 2025 at 8:03 pm
I think his numbers would also look far bettee if Mayfield actually hit him on the last few deep throws. It’s like 1 of 2 a game where he’s open downfield and Baker just misses him due to dealing with injuries, being under pressure, whatever the reason
November 27th, 2025 at 10:51 pm
You want to know what happens when you lose two of your top three receivers just ask the Detroit Lions who got beat and badly outplayed by the Packers. Detroit now with 5 losses; Kansas City with six losses. Neither would make the playoffs if season ended today. The mediocrity in the league is stunníng. Possible that no team will win more than 22 games this year.
November 27th, 2025 at 11:04 pm
The main differences in his production are:
1. His weekly bad drop(s)
2. Baker Mayfield not getting him the ball (super late off-target throws have been a theme of at least the past month and a half)
Egbuka’s getting open, he’s just not getting the ball.
Also, we keep using him on quick passes at or behind the LOS, but he goes down like a sack of potatoes. It’s clearly his biggest weakness, and Grizzard is too blind to see it!
He still has that rookie strength, but does not have the NFL grown man strength, yet.
He really needs to get stronger this offseason if he really wants to be dominant.
November 27th, 2025 at 11:22 pm
This is the worst message board that isn’t on reddit
November 27th, 2025 at 11:46 pm
Joe what are the chances we get a new head coach next season?
November 27th, 2025 at 11:48 pm
Buddha are you blind? Those other teams actually play football, we are a joke
November 27th, 2025 at 11:55 pm
Yes Egbuka is struggling. His QB is a short, inaccurate journeyman bum who 7/8 years has ranked in the bottom in completion percentage and has gotten better at Volume/garbage stats. Any F’ing QB will get stats if they throw 35 times a game. Don’t believe me? See Brissett or Joe Flacco. Let’s see your QB in THREE years is 2 games BELOW.500 (16-18) outside your division,1-8 in prime time games, wins 35% of the games against teams over 500, is something like 7-15 vs other pro bowl qbs- it’s in the 30% range. Has ended your last 2 playoffs with a turnover that led to a game losing score and another one that ended a drive where you could have took the lead. His 3 years he is 19,3 and 24th in competition % and the offense ranked 20th,3rd and 20th. Of all QBs to start 75 games or more since 2018, he has the 5th lowest completion percentage of all QBs. The other 4 are Sam Darnold, Wentz,Trevor Lawrence and Mariota. Now remember this guy about to be 31 and has nearly 120 starts under his belt. Just 3 years ago out of 32 QBs he was ranked 36th. Let me guess, Carolina sucked right? Well in 2022 Baker went 1-5 there, the Immortal PJ Walker was 2-3 and put up better numbers then Baker. Sam Darnold went 4-2. So they were 7-10. 1-5 with him,6-5 without him. He is garbage. He’s not hurt, this is him. 2023, his line was healthy, Godwin, Evans, Otton and White played ALL 17 games. The defense allowed their lowest PPG in about 12-13 years. The defense was 7-8 in scoring defense. Excuse # 1,003,000 for Baker. ” New team”. Well, Brady year 1 with new team, SB champs. Stafford year 1 with new team, SB Champs. Too extreme of a example? Sam Darnold has been on a new team 3 years straight and 4 out of 5 years. Meanwhile,he’s been accurate, putting up stats and the last 2 years he is 22-6 playing in football roughest division. KC didn’t NEED Mahomes yet they traded up to get him. Baltimore didn’t NEED Lamar, they traded up to get him. In 2019 Carson Wentz was 26 years old and signed a 130M contract. The team went 9-7, won a weak division and Wentz threw for 4,000 yards, 27td,7int back when the schedule was 16 games. Far better then Bakers 2023. Wentz did that with not ONE receiver getting 500 yards. His top back ran for 800 yards. Do the organization baby him, coddle him and make a million excuses? Nope. 3 months after the season they drafted Jalen Hurts. That worked out. And Wentz was MUCH younger then Baker is now. He was a homegrown product, 2 years removed from being a MVP front runner. But see, that’s the difference between that organization and this one. Win this BS division, host a playoff game and keep trotting it his journeyman. We JUST left the Brady era and we settle . It’s sickening. If we had a talented, efficient, clutch QB we would be winning 12-15 games a year. We have wasted this division being💩. 3 comebacks against a Jets team with Tyrod Taylor or the Falcons with Michael Penixisnt clutch to me. Fumbling in the wildcard round to end the season AT HOME tona rookie QB is BS. Washington had a worse roster and a worse defense then us last year and made it to the NFC title game. Their defense gave up 6 more points then ours in the regular season. They still won 12 games in the regular season in a tougher division. The Commanders defense gave up over 35 PPG in the playoffs last year. Let’s talk guys. No name calling or disrespect. If you have to resort to that (online of course) it shows you are losing the argument. Please explain WHY we should not target a young, potential franchise QB. If his name was Sam Lewis he’d have a foot and a half out the door. AlOT of us are sick of it. And I dont dislike the guys. He could have retired or gave up a few times. He tries. He gives all he got. Fine. He’s scrappy and fiery. Great. He’s not the guy and it’s soooo obvious what else do you need to see? He’s at his best when he plays chaos ball. He can’t play out the pocket. It’s scrambling,chaos, bombs and dump offs. I will say this..I think it’s bush leauge he faked that injury. The weak before he ran head first into the end zone against Buffalo and LAUNCHED the ball into the stands. I think Baker faked it for few reasons. Stafford made him look like a child. The injury overshadowed his horrible play. He felt one of those 4-5 interception games was coming. He didn’t want them teeing off on that rear end. Notice how QBs often get hurt when they getting blown out or playing like 💩? How often do you see a guy having a monster game go out with a ” non contact” injury???But I suspect Baker will play against the 3-8 Cards. 🧐. If they win he will be lauded a hero. If he plays well he will go into the HOF, even tho that’s what streaky bridge QBs do from time to time. If he doesn’t play well he’s gonna fall on that ” injury” card. Charmed life he leads. He wasn’t that good the first 3 weeks. 200 yards a game and 55% completion % against 3 losing teams and he’s a MVP candidate??? Really? He was inaccurate. Philly mostly everyone was healthy. He was 12/21 for 65 yards and a pick. Down 24-6 at half ,game over. Notice this year.,3-0 vs losing teams, 3-5 vs winning teams. You know,I peek to see what 49er fans are talking about. They are 8-4 in a damn strong NFC West. They have played without their #1 wr, a backup QB, Al pro te, all pro De and LB and they got smoke coming out they ears like BRING IT!!! Now look at our fans. F’n crybabies. I’ve heard the injury excuse a million times. Are they making you play 7 on 11? No?? Well STFU and run 11 MFs out there. Get this backup QB out here! So disappointed in the Glazers. You have a organization churning out HC but you want to saddle us with a backup QB because he win the NFC South. And one of these terms gonna get a franchise QB and that’s it for a decade. Either rebuild now or later. Y’all got some good will built up from the Brady era. Rebuild! Why can’t we draft a young superstar QB with a cap friendly rookie contract? We got a rss to them like everyone else. Time to rebuild. Mediocrity is worse then being bad.
November 28th, 2025 at 1:43 am
If Bowles did not put JMac out with the practice squad wannabes and Bridgewater, he would not have gotten his neck broken and he would definitely be helping take the heat off of Egbuka. Another total fail by Bowles.
November 28th, 2025 at 1:46 am
Buddha, Detroit might be winning a few of these games if they were not 0 and forever on 4th down. They convert 4th downs at a clip similar to the Bucs on 2 point conversions. Dan Campbell is the anti-thesis of Bowles, too aggressive while we have turtle Todd.
November 28th, 2025 at 11:54 am
Eric-Cobb, are you sure that sugar on your breakfast cereal wasn’t something else?
Odd that you spent all the energy into wanting to replace Baker. I can think that on this 40 man roster there are 38-39 players I would replace before getting to Baker, one of Licht’s best moves.
November 28th, 2025 at 1:10 pm
Bucs fan in Oregon: we’ll see. Happy holidays to you. I feel great knowing the Baker era will be coming to a end sooner then later. I noticed you didn’t refute anything I said. The crazy part is I don’t use A.I because it can be outdated or use wrong stats. Use pro football reference. Licht needs to be worried about his job, not Baker’s. I knew Faker Will Fail was bad, but I didn’t know he was that bad until you take a deep dive in the numbers..He stinks bro. If Licht is smart he’ll hold off on that extension. And just so you sleep better, when i put Baker is 7-16 vs Pro Bowl QBs, I was being fair. I did NOT include his 1-2 record vs Kirk Cousins. Also, I DID include his 1-0 record vs Trevor Lawrence. If Baker was named “Mike Harrington” and was this type of player at this age with all this experience, fans and local media would be DEMANDING a upgrade or a attempt at one. Sorry bud, never did come a day in my life. Haven’t smoked weed since 1995 and drink MAYBE 5x a year. The only way id ” consider” giving Baker a 2 year extension would be if he was like 4-6 years younger and still on a rookie contract with AlOT less starts under his belt. And even then,it would not be a slam dunk. The analytics are BRUTAL. But help is on the way. Apparently the bottom has to fall out for the Glazers to make a move. I expect/hope the 2027 off season we have a new QB/HC. And no, I am not a Trask fan. I have NEVER mentioned him until now. Apparently he sucks as he couldn’t even get a job most of the year and I think he would have been worse then Baker these past 3 years. Well never know but he hasn’t done anything anywhere else so far. I don’t even dislike Baker as a person. He’s just overrated. The most overrated football player I have ever seen. His cult is making me dislike him with these excuses every year. And yes, I lost some respect for him with what I believe is a fake injury. If he stinks the rest of the year he has a built in excuses. Bush leauge. But I’ll be waiting on your rebuttal and anyone else on the FOOTBALL takes. The numbers are all there.and one courage anyone to look them up and not on AI..
November 28th, 2025 at 6:11 pm
I hope evens gets back in time for a couple of games so he’s not straight off the bench in the playoffs.