Chris Godwin And Jalen McMillan Need To Stay Healthy For Emeka Egbuka
July 7th, 2026
Taking heat off Emeka Egbuka.
So, what really happened with Emeka Egbuka after the bye?
The Bucs rookie receiver looked like a lock for Offensive Rookie of the Year as he exploded out of the gate and the Bucs jumped out to a 6-2 record.
Then, two things happened as a possible cause-and-effect: Someone let the air out of the Egbuka balloon and the offense went into a dramatic tailspin.
Ben Solak of BSPN is convinced Egbuka was damaged goods, as NextGen Stats showed his speed never recovered after a hamstring injury.
Noted handicapper-turned-stathead Warren Sharp in his Warren Sharp’s 2026 Football Preview somewhat agrees with Solak’s theory. But Sharp seems to think it was a combination of factors, including Mike Evans and Chris Godwin’s injuries, Egbuka’s nagging hamstring and that defenses began keying on Egbuka.
The Bucs already knew they would likely be without Chris Godwin after his nasty 2024 dislocated ankle/fractured fibula (plus a surprise second offseason surgery). He sat out the first three weeks, making his 2025 debut in Week 4 with an 80% snap share. He suited up on October 5 (Week 5) against Seattle before a new fibula injury surfaced. He then missed five games with the fibula injury (Weeks 6-11) and returned against the Rams in Week 12, easing back in on 23 of a possible 70 snaps. From there, he stayed healthy and played out the rest of the season.
Without Godwin, Emeka Egbuka was a ray of sunshine to start the season. He caught a game-winning touchdown with 59 seconds left in his very first NFL game and became an immediate waiver wire add if available in every fantasy football league. He progressively increased his yardage totals, with 85 in Week 3, 101 in Week 4, and 163 in Week 5. Through five games, he had 25 catches for 445 yards and 5 touchdowns and was named NFL Offensive Rookie of the Month for September.
But a hamstring injury in Week 6 lingered for weeks even as Egbuka kept playing. With Evans and Godwin out, defenses tilted coverage toward the rookie, and the production cratered. After that electric start, Egbuka topped 64 receiving yards just once over his final 12 games and did not score a single touchdown over the final eight games.
Todd Bowles and other Bucs types recoil at the idea that injuries doomed the Bucs in 2025. And they’re right.
Good teams don’t choke away a critical game against the tanking Dolphins, with Miami starting a seventh-round pick of a rookie in his second start. Winning that game sends the Bucs to the playoffs.
But as Sharp points out, you cannot dismiss injuries since they wiped out everyone at some point on the Bucs’ offense with the exception of Graham Barton.
(No, Baker Mayfield didn’t miss a start but after the season, word leaked how badly he was hurt and likely should have sat a game or two. Good thing the Bucs signed a high school coach to back up Mayfield.)
The injuries weren’t an excuse. After all, the Bucs beat the Seahawks and 49ers without both Evans and Irving, but they were a problem.
And expecting Rachaad White to replace the spark Irving brought in 2024 when healthy was not reasonable.
Well, Joe thinks the most important thing for the Bucs to dominate this year isn’t sacks from the edge (shocker!) or forced turnovers or X-amount of touchdown catches from receivers or 800+ yards from both Kenneth Gainwell and Bucky Irving.
No, Joe thinks you can sum up the most important goal for the Bucs this year can be whittled down to one word.
“Health.”
July 7th, 2026 at 1:25 am
Man after the Hawks an niners games it’s like the whole team just gave up thinking they were going to make the playoffs they could just give up well that didn’t work I truly think Alot of it had to do with Grizzard I just don’t think he was ready to be a OC just yet I think Zac will be more like coen with this offense then ppl think they are best friends.they prolly call plays just like each other
July 7th, 2026 at 1:45 am
Egbuka is Michael Clayton 2.0 but without a full strong rookie year. And without the excellent blocking. But at least he’s learned to drop passes like Clayton. Todd makes sure his coiches teach the players those critical skills during walk through practices if it’s not siesta time.
The flash has left the pan.
TiredLegs is toast.
July 7th, 2026 at 2:19 am
Bucs injuries were more than a ‘problem’ in 2025…. they were basically insurmountable.
No Wirfs or Godwin or JMac to start the season. Mauch goes down in week 2 and is out for the season. Kancey gets hurt in game 2 and is out for the season. Goedeke shoudn’t have even played game 2 as he hurt his ankle in week 1 – but played anyway – made it way worse and missed the following 6 weeks….
Oline was in shambles right out the gate – and never fully recovered with 4th and 5th string Guards receiving the majority of snaps on the year.
Bucky Irving got injured in week 4 – missed the next 7 games (without going on IR???) and was never the same after he returned to the lineup….
Mike Evans got hurt in game 3 (hamstring?) – was out 3 weeks – returned for 1 game and got his collarbone smashed – out for another 6 games….
Godwin as documented above missed half the season….
Egbuka as documented above was never the same after his week 6 hamstring injury….
JMac with a broken neck in preseason didn’t return to the lineup until week 15….
Baker Mayfield had multiple injuries throughout the season – among the worst being a knee injury in week 7 that was so bad he didn’t attempt a single run for an entire month (3 straight games) – and a separated left shoulder in week 12 that left him visibly writhing in severe pain on the field before leaving the game vs the Rams – yet he started the following week when anyone with even an inkling of medical knowledge would advise against playing contact sports for at least 3-4 weeks with such an injury…..
Lavonte David played in 17 games – but was visibly hampered most of the season with a knee injury that required weekly draining and post season surgery.
David Walker and JJ Russell were lost for the season before it even started…
Jamel Dean missed 3 games….
Benjamin Morrison missed 7 games….
Christian Izien was out 4 games with various injuries….
The list of 2025 Bucs injuries seemingly never ended…
But other than THAT – how was the car ride Mrs. Kennedy?
July 7th, 2026 at 2:53 am
Well, we had a GM who decided to WASTE $35-MIL+ last season on Godwin AND Reddick… Awfully hard to have any depth that way, after horrible draft after horrible draft. Almost EVERY MOVE for the last SEVERAL SEASONS, has been inexplicably inexcusable, in REAL-TIME. Just Horrendous.
July 7th, 2026 at 3:26 am
Baker had something to do with EE’s struggles, he was horrible down the stretch. Take the last Falcon game. Emeka is streaking across the field wide open for a first down, likely a TD. Baker throws way behind him, incomplete. Third, and 28 never happens if Baker makes that throw. EE had a down end to his season. So did his QB.
July 7th, 2026 at 7:17 am
the dolphins did not play like they were tanking they played like a playoff team against the bucs. watch the loaf watch. at that point the bucs defense was a joke and couldn’t stop the rookie qb. so many cringy moments after the bye and that was one of them. add mike getting landed(before the bye) on by the detroit third string cb to brake his collarbone in front of prime time millions of people, vrabel running it down our throats, third and 28 on and on after that win against the texans sucked to be a bucs fan bad!!!!
July 7th, 2026 at 7:27 am
Egbuka became the WR1 when Mike went down, that’s what happened and his play with the rest of our offensive play went into a hole. Bucs limped into the bye week.
So yea, everybody staying healthy should help, but Egbuka still is dealing with the real chance he’ll draw the matchup with any of our opponents best CB on a weekly basis. 2 over top and man underneath, that’s what teams did to us down the stretch. Outside of Chris, our best man beater is JMac, not Egbuka.
July 7th, 2026 at 8:04 am
we’ll have answers soon enough
GO BUCS!!!!
July 7th, 2026 at 8:22 am
The answer is “D”, all of the above. Soooo many injuries and issues. Only Tom Brady could have played good behind that offense line , hurt, with the receivers that were available. When Tez is the #2 wr and Cam Johnson #3 with rookie OC no qb could have flourished.
July 7th, 2026 at 9:10 am
The Niners were way way more decimated with injury than the Bucs and they made the playoffs with double digit wins. The difference, they have a real and modern Head Coach. Mike Evans knows.
These Pom Poms who play the injury excuse card make me vomit.
July 7th, 2026 at 9:27 am
I agree 100%
July 7th, 2026 at 9:36 am
Also, we don’t know how well Egbuka will beat man once he gets his top gear back. He will have it this season. It’s very hard to beat man if you don’t have your own top speed!
July 7th, 2026 at 10:18 am
3.28.Evans. All I heard about after the 2024 season was how decimated the Niners were from injuries. They won 6! games in 2024. So in 2025 they were better. Had a little more depth to play through them. To suggest they had injuries to rival our offenses in 2025 is being disingenuous at best.
July 7th, 2026 at 11:00 am
How logical is it to expect those two physical receivers not to miss time?
Not too IMO. That’s why we have to get Hurst going as quickly as possible and hope that neither Chris nor JM get significantly injured and maybe only miss a game or two spread out over the course of em entire season.
July 7th, 2026 at 11:52 am
I think the injury Gods need to skip the Bucs this year! We had our share and its time fate and fortuna smile on us
July 7th, 2026 at 11:59 am
Let’s focus more on the REASONS that EE cratered. Sure, you can point out that other players got injured, that EE hurt his hamstring, that defenses rotated coverage towards him, that Baker was cooked.
The main problem was that EE sucked against press/man coverage. He does well against zones. Against NFL man-up corners not so much. Against jams at the line, very poorly.
He can take the second-year jump and put all this behind him. Still we fans deserve to know what went wrong so we can see how — if — it gets solved.
July 7th, 2026 at 1:41 pm
I think JMac is the most talented WR on this team. When he came back at the end of the season he was one of the only ones who looked ready to fight and compete. Everybody else was in slow motion. On both sides of the ball.
July 7th, 2026 at 5:48 pm
JMac should be fine without Bridgewater laying him out to get hurt.
July 7th, 2026 at 8:13 pm
Oh nooo,the young receivers mentor jumped ship! Who’s gonna teach them ! Crap!