Bucs is signing the 2025 Rookie Draft Class. After signing four players on Thursday, Tampa Bay announced on Friday that they had signed his rookie contract to first round pick Emeka Egbuka. Egbuka is Bucs’ first round pick, so the contract comes with a 5th year team option.
With the signature of Former Ohio wide receiver; This will sign five of the 2025 Tampa Bay draft topics. The only one that has not been signed is the second round pick, Notre Dame cornerback Benjamin Morrison.
What Emeka Egbuka brings to Bucs
Tampa Bay chose Ohio wide receiver Emeka Egbuka in the first round and gave quarterback Baker Mayfield another outstanding pass catcher to work with new offensive coordinator Josh Grizzard.
Egbuka is a 6-foot-1 201-pounder who appeared in the National Champion Buckeyes. There is arguing that Egbuka was the most refined wide receiver of this year’s class. He plays at a high level as a three-year starter for Ohio State and has the knack for opening. He is very skilled at finding the ball with short but important nuances, which will help him find a window of opportunity. He is a Chris Godwin type receiver and Bux fans love to hear and watch.
Bucks head coach Todd Bowles, WR Emeka Egbuka, GM Jason Licht – Photo by Cliff Welch/PR
With a high soccer IQ, great toughness and quarterback-friendly ability to match his ball tracking and adjustment skills, Egbuka is an exciting choice for Tampa Bay. Athletic Dane Brugler said that while Egbuka can line up outside, he will thrive in the slot role “where he can expand the play call menu with a variety of skill sets.”
Egbuka joined Marvin Harrison Jr. as the only player in Buckeyes history to receive two 1,000-yard seasons. The first was in 2022, catching 74 passes for 1,151 yards in 13 games and 10 touchdowns (all starts). After missing out on a while with an ankle injury in 2023, he returned to Ohio State’s 2024 championship season, catching 81 passes for 1,011 yards and 10 touchdowns.
Bucs was the 2024 team captain of the Buckeyes, so the lover of Egbuka was also a second Academic All-American nomination and two Academic All-Big 10 winners.
Bucs adds another talent to the WR room
Wide receivers were one of the low needs of BUCS’s list, but they were still needed. Mike Evans is quarterback Baker Mayfield’s number one goal, and he hasn’t lost a step yet. However, he turned 32 during training camp and entered the contract year.
Meanwhile, Chris Godwin is beginning the first year of his three-year contract, but he is 29 years old and has quit his second major injury within the past few years.
Behind the veterans, the only receiver on the roster on the roster is Jalen McMillan, a second-year pass catcher who was Tampa Bay’s third round pick last year.
Bucs WR Jalen McMillan – Photo by Cliff Welch/Pr
The Evans, Godwin and Macmillan trio are solid, but adding a fourth-largest wide receiver like Emeka Egbuka to the mix will bring in a massive rise in the receiving force. Needless to say, there was a point during the 2024 season when both Evans and Godwin fell. Mayfield did his best he could with what he had in that position, but Tampa Bay went 0-4 without a top two in the lineup.
Egbuka gives Mayfield and the attack a big boost. It is clear that Tampa Bay saw enough Egbuka to make this pick when Donovan Ezeilak, Malaki Starks, Jadae Baron, Maxwell Hairston and Jihad Campbell were still on board at the time.
Egbuka became the fourth wide receiver to be selected in the first round of franchise history, joining Reidel Anthony (1997), Michael Clayton (2004) and Mike Evans (2014).
