Emeka Egbuka, The Bucs Defense And A Super Bowl Run
April 30th, 2025
Bucs coach Todd Bowles.
As Joe typed earlier, the reason why there has been so much blowback over the drafting of Ohio State receiver Emeka Egbuka by the Bucs in the first round isn’t anger or disgust directed at Egbuka.
It’s just that some fans and media were bewildered. The Bucs had one of the best offenses in the league and every starter returns. The problem was the defense.
And with a chance to plug a hole on defense with a stud, the Bucs chose offense.
Joe loves the selection of Egbuka, though “this Joe” likely would have taken a defensive tackle or safety at No. 19. Still, Egbuka should be a star. It’s not like Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht drafted a screwball kicker who decided to change his kicking swing because of a golfer (can you imagine?).
NFL analyst Ben Solak, while appearing on Mina Kimes’ podcast, thinks the Bucs may have blown their Super Bowl window by not going after a monster defender to patrol the middle of the field.
Solak loves Egbuka, he just thinks the Bucs ran off a potential road to the Super Bowl.
“The Emeka Egbuka pick at 19, just, it surprised me at the time,” Solak said. “I’ve now read the quotes and the explanation. I appreciate the forward thinking of [drafting Egbuka].
“I still, just am, like, man, this is, this is a very good offense that returns all 11 starters from last year and also invested in the developmental wide receiver spot in Jalen McMillan last year with a third-round pick.
“Yeah, and, OK, you snagged Godwin, you got him back. You didn’t get him back in a one-year deal. It’s a multi-year deal.”
Solak said the totality of the “uncertainty” between Evans’ future in 2026 (2025 is a contract year for Evans) and Godwin’s rehab likely led the Bucs to believe now was the time to get a receiver.
“The cumulative weight of some of the wide receiver uncertainty — Mike Evans is coming into a contract year,” Solak began. “Godwin is coming off of a very major injury. And McMillan was just a third-round pick. Obviously he played great, but, you know, [he’s] not a first-rounder [that] is locked and loaded.
“I think the cumulative uncertainty at receiver led them to feel comfortable enough to take a player who, like, was very highly ranked on their board, and it is a very good scheme fit. That’s great. That’s wonderful.”
The Bucs were an inside linebacker or a safety away from being a true contender, Solak feels. And in his mind, those holes still exist.
“Man, if the Buccaneers are back to having a playoff caliber offense, not just playoff caliber, but, like, they had a top five unit last year by every metric, this was a very good offense, they go right back to that,” Solak said. “And they’re still just dying [on defense] over the middle of the field because the linebackers can’t play… “
Solak noted the lazy thing to say is the Bucs should have drafted Jihaad Campbell. But he could understand if the Bucs were scared away by Campbell’s health, as the Alabama product had shoulder surgery in March.
“I get it, right?” Solak said. “You don’t know that in April” if Campbell could be healthy enough to play Week 1.
“I continue to raise my eyebrow at the Egbuka investment. Good player. Then they immediately went corner, corner. Like [the Bucs knew Egbuka] was a little bit of a luxury. ‘Now let’s get after the spots we need to get after.’ So I appreciate that, the awareness of what happened there.”
One thing Joe hasn’t heard many people say is that even with the horrid pass defense, it wasn’t like the Bucs were getting blown out last season. Of their eight losses, one a Week 3 blowout by the Broncos, only once the rest of the season did the Bucs lose by seven or more points. That was a 10-point loss to the Crows.
Twice they lost in overtime.
So perhaps the Bucs thought if they could just have a little more offense, they could actually improve by two or three wins?
Still, the vision of Kirk Cousins slicing the Bucs apart for over 500 yards makes Joe puke and wonder how much differently the game (and season) would have been with a decent linebacker playing next to Lavonte David or a decent safety playing next to Antoine Winfield?
April 30th, 2025 at 4:21 am
We were not one defender away. That’s nonesense. The only thing that worked last year was the interior d-line. And even there we had a depth problem. Otherwise it was bad everywhere.
We adressed secondary and edge rush and we got a depth piece on the öine. Yes, linebacker is still a problem, but the defense as a whole should improve and make the difference for our offense to win.
We can adress linebacker next year when its not just Jihaad Campbell and a bunch of weaker prospects.
April 30th, 2025 at 4:57 am
Defense will improve – Winfield will be healthy; we have competition at Corner, added Walker to replace Britt and Dennis should be fit. We now have a huge safety net at WR. Imagine 4 WR set with Bucky or White in the backfield – covering that will be a massive headache for opponents. Worst case scenario we are forced to win shoot outs every week
April 30th, 2025 at 6:06 am
I get it! Jason has to look after the future as well and that is why I have no problem with the pick. Would have love an ILB but…. Long story
Safety is not as big a thing to me.
Go Bucs!
April 30th, 2025 at 6:19 am
I don’t know. This does not appear to factor in the impact Reddick will hopefully have. The Bucs had zip for production at the EDGE last season.
In addition, even with the most positive outlook, CG is not going to come back immediately at the same level as he left. CG is recovering from a major injury. (is this what Ronde hinted about that we don’t know?). I think CG will come back to form – JL did not give him a long term deal bc he likes CG – but how long will it take?
When, not if, will ME’s hammie blow out and for how long will it affect him?
Although I was like everyone at first. Picking a WR at 19 seemed like a lost opportunity to beef up the defense. But after thinking about it, I like the EE pick. We always say go BPA, and Licht did.
April 30th, 2025 at 6:19 am
Tykee Smith will take over the safety spot that was occupied by Jordan Whitehead. We drafted Jacob Parrish to take over the nickel position previously held by Tykee Smith.
SirVocea Dennis will start at LB with Deion Jones and Kenneth Walker as backups for that position.
Our (nickel) defense will look like this:
Winfield (Merriweather) – Smith (Sanders)
Dean – Parrish (Izien) – Morrison (Hall) – McCollum
Diaby (Nelson) – David (Walker) – Dennis (Jones) – Reddick (Braswell)
Kancey (Walker) – Vea (Gaines) – Hall (Roberts)
Looks pretty solid to me.
April 30th, 2025 at 6:20 am
I mean Anthony Walker for LB and David Walker for DE.
April 30th, 2025 at 6:24 am
Except for the Bowles/Licht sycophants, I think the rest of us were a bit taken aback by the Egbuka selection.
Yes, he appears to have the chance to become a solid NFL receiver. But watching our defense fold at the end of games dominated our thoughts. So we thought the pick would be defense.
It’s over now, so it is what it is. All we can do now is hope the later round defensive selections pan out, especially Walker who, on paper, appears to be a steal.
Fingers crossed!
April 30th, 2025 at 6:25 am
If the national media says the pick was wrong then rest assured the pick was right.
April 30th, 2025 at 6:27 am
I guess if we can come out like the 1999 Greatest Show on Turf and just outscore everyone — however the Rams win over the ’99 Bucs “D” was a very near thing at 11 to 6. Will see if the old axiom of “Defenses Win Championships” holds up. It was “D” that confounded the KC “O machine” in SB LV and also and this February. Go Bucs!
April 30th, 2025 at 6:34 am
Funny that a national NFL analyst makes the obvious point and it’s viewed as thoughtful and insightful. Ham and eggers make the same point here and get ridiculed for questioning the greatness of our GM.
April 30th, 2025 at 6:38 am
@LetsBucs…1000% facts.
I think at pick 19 there’s only so many “safe” picks to choose from. Hell, 2 players that damn near fell off the map who were draft in top 10 of their draft at LB were Devin White (5) and Devin Bush (10), both these guys never got their 2nd big contracts.
Not saying you give up on trying for need in the first round, but the reality is there are only 2 WRs you can truly trust on offense going into the 2025, and it is almost a known fact they won’t be on the field for 17 games. Surprisingly, the first round pick I think was the best one, I don’t hate the others, but I was really hoping we would’ve addressed pass rush earlier than the 4th round. The irony is that we have yet to see Bowles and his staff develop an early round stud edge pass rusher, and yet somehow our 4th and 5th round selections will change all that? We will see.
April 30th, 2025 at 6:46 am
It is an offensive league but man I’m old school and still believe defense wins chips. 02 Bucs and 2020 Bucs along with many other good to great defenses have won SB because they stop the other team from scoring. I understand why we went with WR they layed it out perfect in this article joe. Also you reach for players when you go just based off need or desperation but looks like we drafted a WR based off need lol at the end of the day I’m a nobody. My thoughts don’t count. I do trust Jason he’s deff proven to us he knows what he’s doing. Excited for this season
April 30th, 2025 at 6:47 am
I’m every one of those losses, it overwhelmingly felt like the opposing offense was in control of the game because they are. Also, I think bowles has a habit of calling super conservative defense toward the end of games, like he’s afraid to give it all up in one play so he allows it all in large chunks. Either way it was a gift
April 30th, 2025 at 6:54 am
We drafted four defensive positions. By drafting Parrish to play slot, we do have a new safety. Instead of Georgia safety Starks we’ll be starting Georgia safety Tykee Smith. This guy doesn’t see we have a new starting safety. The Bucs said before the draft, Smith wants to move to safety, no one was listening. Morrison, if healthy, should beat out Dean. That would give us three new starters in the secondary with good depth with Dean, and Izien. That should help the middle of the defense. We got an edge rusher in Walker, and another edge who can move inside. Season hasn’t started yet, Bucs might still work a deal for a MLB. My guess is they’re happy where they’re at for now, fans should be too.
April 30th, 2025 at 7:09 am
FrontFour…imagine that. Point well made sir.
This cat in the article above is actually late.
Cue the noisy backers…
April 30th, 2025 at 7:13 am
They did a great job . All of you love how the offense has evolved . Picking EE will help keep it rolling g for the next several years . They addressed corner & got 2 productive guys in the 4th & 5th round added to the defense. If our linebacker can stay healthy , we will field a formidable team . Go bucs
April 30th, 2025 at 7:30 am
I couldn’t be happier with the pick. I’m done with projects and workout warriors. Most analysts consider him the safest first round pick in this years draft. If the consensus number 2 receiver in the entire draft is there at 19 you take them.
April 30th, 2025 at 7:44 am
I’m not worried about the draft at all. They have been nailing it for the last five years. Parrish will be a huge upgrade over Funderburk. Britt was flat out too slow and him not being on the field is addition by subtraction. The wild cards are the rushers they drafted, if one or both were to hit like Bucky did then it’s Super Bowl Baby!
GO BUCS
April 30th, 2025 at 7:50 am
The Bucs did an evaluation of last year’s team and assessed that when they lost Godwin and Evans (2 players in their 30’s) they saw a need at receiver and addressed it with the philosophy of pick the best player available regardless of position.
And they did exactly what they said what they would do. This appears to be a well thought decision
April 30th, 2025 at 8:19 am
Loved the draft even more than last year. Egbuka was a steal at 19. Nobody criticizes the pick on talent. The only thing heard is Tampa already has Godwin and Evans or they just extended Godwin. Egbuka is a stud receiver, and gets separation. Separation is what sets Evans, Godwin and MacMillian apart from receivers 4-7.
April 30th, 2025 at 8:22 am
I think the Bucs went with the Best Player Available, because they didn’t have anyone on the D that was better on their boards left to pick in the First. In other words the defensive talent level was about the same from pick 19 to pick 53 when they got Morrison. As far as Godwin, perhaps he won’t be ready at the start of the season and that was another reason the Bucs went with Egbuka? I didn’t like the pick at first, but it’s starting to make more sense….. I also wouldn’t be surprised if the Bucs sign another veteran Edge at some point.
April 30th, 2025 at 8:48 am
‘Joe loves the selection of Egbuka, though “this Joe” likely would have taken a defensive tackle or safety at No. 19. Still, Egbuka should be a star.’
Pretty much sums up how I felt after the draft Joe. I’m convinced that the Bucs need a more consistent pass rush via the interior DLine to radically improve our defense (decrease our need to blitz, improve pass coverage, free up our OLBs/DEs, AND significantly decrease our 4th down conversions allowed). To me it all gets back to improving the center of our defense (DT/NT & our MLB), and we haven’t done that … yet.
Still we’ve got the rest of free agency to fix that. We need 1 more Vea-clone who can move the pile and a starter-capable ILB to fight it out with SVD & Anthony Walker for the MLB starter. Add those two & Bucs will be able to duke it out with anyone.
April 30th, 2025 at 9:08 am
Send McMillen and Dean to the Cowboys for Micah Parsons. Dallas needs a #2 receiver and Parsons is a huge impact player on the final year of his contract.
April 30th, 2025 at 9:23 am
I can’t say whether this was a good pick or not. That will take a few years. Honestly I would have taken Campbell.
But I can’t get behind the logic of “You took a WR with your first pick. That’s it, no Superbowl. If only you had this rookie…..”
April 30th, 2025 at 9:38 am
One of the best things the Bucs can do for the defense is to keep the offense on the field longer. When Evens and Godwin were both injured the offense spent more time on the sidelines while the defense got exposed.
April 30th, 2025 at 10:10 am
Here is the flaw: which playoff teams in the NFC look better now? Not Detroit, not Minnesota, not Green Bay. Washington may regress. Won a lot of games on last possession and were injury free.
April 30th, 2025 at 10:14 am
We won’t need a 2nd LB in most passing situations. We’ll see Dean/Morrison, McCollum, Winfield, Smith, and Parrish plus Dennis on anything over 3rd and 5. And 3 down linemen, plus 2 OLB/Edge. One of whom may drop into coverage, rushing 4 most of the time.
So, we don’t “Need” another MLB just yet.
April 30th, 2025 at 10:15 am
Alright, Super Bowl stuff starts. Every team is on a Super Bowl Run. Here we go.
April 30th, 2025 at 10:20 am
BucU Says:
April 30th, 2025 at 6:25 am
If the national media says the pick was wrong then rest assured the pick was right.
———————-
Thank you. I couldn’t have said it better. I’m sad that Whitehead turned into a bust coming back. He was a big part of our second SB win. I am looking forward to seeing a healthy SVD on the field. He sure was tantalizing until he got hurt. Also looking forward to seeing what Izien and Tykee Smith do this year.
April 30th, 2025 at 10:24 am
Oh ye of little faith!
Licht has killed it the last two drafts.
Diaby: 3rd round STARTER
Tykes Smith: 3rd round STARTER
J-Mac: 3rd round STARTER
Bucky Irving: 4th round STARTER
Zion: 5th round STARTER
Cade Otton: 4th round STARTER
We haven’t used a 1st round pick on a WR since Mike Evans was drafted!
Egbeku is a franchise WR. A building block for the next generation of TB receivers.
Why don’t you guys trust Licht yet?
We got two badass corners.
We got a badass OLB.
We got a badass DT/DE (backup for Kancey and Hall)
Why are you spoiled punks complaining????
Why can’t you love Licht and Bowles like our players do!!!
April 30th, 2025 at 10:34 am
“defender to patrol the middle of the field.”
Such massive disrespect for AW doesn’t surprise from National pundits but I can’t believe the posters here don’t get it.
AW was on track to be the next Troy Polamulu…a wild card given freedom to play where HE thought he was needed most. He did that incredibly well, was the proverbial “game changer” I’ll use the worn out word here LITERALLY. He’s the highest paid safety in the league for a reason. He basically had a lost season last year due to his injury situation. IF AW comes back healthy THAT will be the BIGGEST addition the Bucs D.
The Bucs also were counting on SVD to patrol the middle not the hard hitting turtle Britt!!!
Without even looking at the draft if AW returns to “highest paid safety in the league” form, and SVD stays healthy and lives up to his promise the D will take quantum leaps forward.
Agree with D.R. we could have used some more beef in the middle so hopefully that’s where Roberts or another guy can help out.
AW is the most important piece of the puzzle. He is the QB of the defense!
April 30th, 2025 at 10:47 am
Bowles is too loyal for too long with some players.
Having Britt starting at ILB instead of SVD starting early in the season probably single-handedly lost us a couple games. Based on pure skills and talent, Britt wasn’t deserving of starting over SVD at any point.
Also, Bowles’ loyalty to Rachaad White instead of having Tucker split carries with Bucky, also prob lost us a couple games last year.
Look at the New Orleans game when R White was out.
That’s was by far our best rushing performance in the past 10 years and should be our blueprint moving forward.
But, no…… Let’s not do what works best, let’s be loyal to lesser-skilled players and lose some games because of it.
So stupid!!
April 30th, 2025 at 11:18 am
Egbuka helps the defense by keeping drives alive. This guy has the look of a go-to 3rd down receiver. If Godwin’s not available, he can step into the role.
Complementary football.
April 30th, 2025 at 11:20 am
Hodad Says:
“Morrison, if healthy, should beat out Dean”
I seriously doubt that….. Dean is a very good and seasoned CB. Staying on the field has been his biggest ‘issue’.
Morrison no doubt has starter level talent – but it takes most CBs at least a year or 2 to acclimate fully to NFL speed and responsibilities…..
stpetebucsfan Says:
“if AW returns to “highest paid safety in the league” form, and SVD stays healthy and lives up to his promise the D will take quantum leaps forward.”
Agreed! Bucs defense was very much improved over last year before we even drafted one defensive player assuming AW and SVD are available to play up to their capabilities in 2025.
April 30th, 2025 at 11:24 am
Erik
“Also, Bowles’ loyalty to Rachaad White instead of having Tucker split carries with Bucky, also prob lost us a couple games last year.”
I think everyone here agrees the Bucs were slow to recognize the totality of Bucky’s skill set. What I question is how Todd is responsible for this.
We have people, one poster almost does it everyday, SCREAMING that Todd needs a DC. Now we blasting him for not being the OC. If being too involved in the D stretches Todd thin what would doing the same for the O do?
Wasn’t that Coen’s responsiblity? He gets a head coaching gig?
April 30th, 2025 at 11:37 am
stpetebucsfan…
Fully agree. I think the “what have you done for me lately” mentality is very prevalent here… along with the “our defense sucks and a bunch of guys need replacing” mentality while injuries have been the main problem all along.
What sucked –> The improvement
Secondary (?) —– just drafted two very highly rated corners
Winfield back healthy / Smith to safety (?)
Midfield coverage — Dennis healthy / signed Walker
Pass rush ————- signed Reddick / drafted Walker
Punting —————- sign top 10 punter
Kick/punt return ———— drafted Tezmanian Devil
Time management coaching —- hired a specialist advisor
Edge coaching ————- moved super bowl winning position coach Foote back to his original position
There may be other areas that could use some impressive improvement that didn’t get it but I don’t think there’s any area that pretty much needed extreme improvement that wasn’t addressed. Correct me if I’m wrong, maybe I’m missing something.
IMO, a lot of it comes down to health, and some of the injuries our players had that kept them out of a lot of games were very flukey injuries that no strength/conditioning/rehab group could do any better job with the players avoiding or recovering from.
April 30th, 2025 at 11:50 am
The so called ‘Super Bowl run’ hinges greatly on Grizzard and the Offense because the D side has dropped the ball for years… Bowels can’t coach his side to stop drives to save his life!
April 30th, 2025 at 12:49 pm
Offense was great last year, no doubt. It was a top 5 offense. But was it a Super Bowl winning offense? Not really.
Teams like the Chiefs and Ravens can steamroll just about anybody with their O. They just need to be competent at D.
I think we’ll steamroll teams on O and our D will do enough.
April 30th, 2025 at 1:57 pm
Seriously? The Chiefs offense didn’t steamroll anybody. They pretty much won every game by a point. They’re defense won most of the games for them last year. They’re online was awful. Our old lines heads and tails better than theirs. Look at my home stats? Very pedestrian in 2024. They’re offense was good in the late fourth quarter & in the clutch but the defense always kept them in the game. That’s what lack of good receivers and a.solid o line will do for you.
Our offense was actually hurt by our defense because other teams drives were sustained so long. But I still contend our defense was battered and too injured to do much better. I think the scheme used needed to change greatly and was based on good, skilled starters being in certain places at certain times. We sometimes forget not only are backups usually slower and less skilled but they are usually not seasoned vets and don’t have the high football IQ, or they would be starters. Those backups are out of place a lot last year. They gave up a lot of passes the starters wouldn’t have. Put that with no solid pass rush, which I think we fixed, and you get what we got.
April 30th, 2025 at 1:58 pm
Terrible job proofreading on my part.
My homes = Mahomes LOL