Emeka Egbuka: Baker Mayfield Trust Enabled Strong First Half
February 8th, 2026
Emeka Egbuka was flying high early in 2025. He opened up on the subject last week.
Joe has written many stories about being geeked the Bucs drafted Emeka Egbuka. Joe tried hard not to get too hyped about Egbuka as he tore up Bucs training camp.
Egbuka carried that momentum into the season. Through the first half, Egbuka was on fire and appeared to have “Offensive Rookie of the Year” locked up.
But after the home loss to the Patriots immediately after the bye, Egbuka went into the witness protection program. He was rarely a factor.
Last week on Radio Row in San Francisco, Egbuka sat down with popular national sports radio and TV personality Adam Schein for a segment on “Schein on Sports,” heard exclusively on SiriusXM Radio.
Schein didn’t want to focus on Egbuka’s near-invisible second half. But Schein wanted to know how Egbuka was on fire right out of the gate in Week 1.
Egbuka pretty much said Baker Mayfield developed a trust in Egbuka in underwear football that carried over to training camp, worthless preseason football and opening day.
“I think it [was] just the unseen reps in practice, honestly,” Egbuka said. “Whenever we didn’t connect on a ball in practice, or whatever the case may be, we [got] together, and we’re huddled on the sideline talking about what went wrong, what I could have done better, what he could have done better.
“And there was never conversations that we were afraid to have or didn’t have. And I have full confidence in him. He had full confidence in me, which meant a lot to me, being that I was a rookie.
“So to have that level of confidence in me, just allowed me to play free and play to the highest of my ability. We were just able to hit it off right away.”
So what happened after the loss to the Patriots? Joe is pretty close to convinced it was a combination of Egbuka hitting the rookie wall hard and Mayfield being so hurt he wasn’t able to throw right.
Hard for a receiver to play above the rim when he and his quarterback are physically shot.
February 8th, 2026 at 11:15 am
Off subject but……there’s something to be said about Licht’s quest for character with draft picks.
The latest news on Falcons 1st round pick James Pierce is a good example of not paying attention to character.
February 8th, 2026 at 11:19 am
I believe once opposing teams figured Grizzard out, he wasn’t able to adapt to the speed of the game. The Bucs have too many weapons to not be able to consistently move the football. The O line didn’t help either, but defenses knew what was coming after the Bye Week.
February 8th, 2026 at 11:34 am
@bucnjim exactly! Look at Atlanta — thy got better as the season wore on. Even Miami. Same with Coen in 2024. The good OCs adapt. Grizz couldn’t
February 8th, 2026 at 11:37 am
Egbuka is a great WR. I watched every one of his games at Ohio State. Some games he dominated, others not so much. The play calling had a lot to do with it, or he would get double teamed. I think he was allowed to roam free that first half of the season and teams started putting more focus on defending him once he started to make teams pay for it. He is going to have a great career!
February 8th, 2026 at 11:49 am
Emeka Egbika struggled to get open, rarely got separation
His first games, he had a catch ratio of 66%
His last 12 games, his catch ratio was 43%
I don’t know if it had anything to do with Godwin coming back or not
But l do know Egbuka is a natural slot receiver
And Godwin don’t like to line up outside, he loves the slot
Egbuka finished the season with 127 targets, 63 receptions
That’s right at a 50% catch ratio, it has to improve this season
February 8th, 2026 at 11:56 am
Wasn’t the patriots game not so coincidentally when Brederson got injured?
February 8th, 2026 at 12:10 pm
“The latest news on Falcons 1st round pick James Pierce is a good example of not paying attention to character.
Falcons packaged their ‘26 1st round pick to get him too. Sucks for them.
I think Egbuka will be just fine. There was that stretch of games during and after the Lions game where our offense kind of fell off of a cliff. Partly because Mike was missing, meaning that teams got to give Egbuka a taste of being a WR1 in this league. I think the kid is smart enough to learn lessons from that, and use it to his advantage as a player moving forward.
Biggest questions for Egbuka isn’t even about him, it’s how well can Robinson use him and how consistently can Baker connect with him.
February 8th, 2026 at 12:17 pm
Fire Todd
February 8th, 2026 at 12:25 pm
He’ll explode in year 2.
J-Mac will explode in year 3.
Godwin will come back at 100%.
We just need to be careful with them in pre-season this time.
Rest all 4 until Week 1.
Work on the run game during the pre-season games.
Let Kameron Johnson, Tez Johnson and undrafted guys play during the pre-season.
Save our 4 Musketeers until Week 1.
Go Bucs!
February 8th, 2026 at 12:26 pm
And of course
Mike Evans is the 4th Musketeer I forgot to mention.
February 8th, 2026 at 1:00 pm
He will be better this year.
February 8th, 2026 at 1:03 pm
His 2nd half drop off was shades of Michael Clayton following his contract extension. Borderline disappearance ( but both continue to block well admittedly ). Hopefully he’ll be fine and have a solid season in 2026.
February 8th, 2026 at 1:06 pm
If ” the tod bowles ” defense made a stop or 2 once in a while t,they would’ve had more chances..damn shame
February 8th, 2026 at 1:51 pm
It’s so funny that injuries are never an acceptable excuse until it comes to Mayfield.
His fans mastarbate stats comparing him to the great qbs, and saying he makes coaches not the other way around,
but when he has a down year blame everything and everyone else other than him.
When he had infamous Jaymiss ATM the only fan we had to deal with(and still do) was Oneillbuc,
but with Baker it’s an entire states worth of people in need of testosterone immersion tanks.
February 8th, 2026 at 2:20 pm
Baker needs to develop more trust with recievers not named EE, Mike or Chris.
All Tez did was get open and catch the ball when used.
Find THE OPEN MAN and trust them. Too many examples of him locking in on his primary target and making tight, contested throws that had no chance.
Was glad to hear Zac single out J-Mac and Tez briefly when he was picked…. I think he sees what I see. It’s going to be a challenge feeding everyone but our success will depend on Zacs ability to use ALL his weapons.
February 8th, 2026 at 2:30 pm
I don’t hear the Joe’s or Ira making excuses for Baker. One is more willing to point to the injuries as an explanation for the drop off but not the other 2. As for the posters on this site, most offer no excuses. Most are relatively measured in their critiques of Baker. Just as some are over the top re defending Baker, just as many are way over the top in their criticisms.
February 8th, 2026 at 2:45 pm
Enjoy his highlights from the first 8 games of 2025. It’s the best he’ll ever perform
February 8th, 2026 at 2:46 pm
Looking for explanations for what happened the second half of the season relative the decline in Baker’s play is a reasonable thing to do. Baker threw 13 TD and 2 picks in the first 8 games and then 13 and 9 respectively over the last 9. The last part of the season included games against what was expected to be inferior opponents and yet it was against those teams that the decline was pronounced. The first half included games against some of the best defenses in the league including the Texans, Falcons, Eagles, Seahawks, 49ers and Lions. It’s logical to look for reasons.
February 8th, 2026 at 4:21 pm
Warren Brooks Lynch Says:
“Biggest questions for Egbuka isn’t even about him, it’s how well can Robinson use him and how consistently can Baker connect with him.”
Bingo!