
Draft Note by John Paulsen
The advanced stats from Egbuka's rookie season are all over the place. His ESPN OPEN score (6th percentile) and CATCH score (4th percentile) were both near the bottom of the 110-receiver sample, so he struggled to create separation and dropped the ball at a high rate (11.3%, 18th percentile). And yet he finished WR17 overall with 938 yards and six touchdowns. The explanation stems from his 85th-percentile ESPN YAC score and 84th-percentile PFF YAC per reception. When he did get the ball, he created after the catch at an elite level. Matt Harmon of Reception Perception called Egbuka “an obviously good player” but noted that his production cooled after a red-hot start to his rookie season. The opportunity heading into Year 2 is there. Tampa Bay has 116 vacated WR targets (32.2%) with Mike Evans gone, including eight vacated inside-the-10 targets (33.3% of team red zone looks). Baker Mayfield will keep the offense moving, while Chris Godwin's return and Jalen McMillan's emergence add complementary pieces, though I wouldn’t be shocked if Godwin had the best fantasy season of the three.
Emeka Egbuka
- WR
- , Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- 24
- 190 lbs
- 6' 1"
- Ohio State
- 44
- 1
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2026 Draft note
The advanced stats from Egbuka's rookie season are all over the place. His ESPN OPEN score (6th percentile) and CATCH score (4th percentile) were both near the bottom of the 110-receiver sample, so he struggled to create separation and dropped the ball at a high rate (11.3%, 18th percentile). And yet he finished WR17 overall with 938 yards and six touchdowns. The explanation stems from his 85th-percentile ESPN YAC score and 84th-percentile PFF YAC per reception. When he did get the ball, he created after the catch at an elite level. Matt Harmon of Reception Perception called Egbuka “an obviously good player” but noted that his production cooled after a red-hot start to his rookie season. The opportunity heading into Year 2 is there. Tampa Bay has 116 vacated WR targets (32.2%) with Mike Evans gone, including eight vacated inside-the-10 targets (33.3% of team red zone looks). Baker Mayfield will keep the offense moving, while Chris Godwin's return and Jalen McMillan's emergence add complementary pieces, though I wouldn’t be shocked if Godwin had the best fantasy season of the three.
2026 Strength of Schedule - TB
| W1 | W2 | W3 | W4 | W5 | W6 | W7 | W8 | W9 | W10 | W11 | W12 | W13 | W14 | W15 | W16 | W17 | W18 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13 @CIN | 9 CLE | 1 MIN | 20 GB | 32 @DAL | 21 PIT | 11 @CAR | 30 ATL | 31 @CHI | BYE | 29 @DET | 11 CAR | 14 LAC | 25 @BAL | 7 NO | 30 @ATL | 18 LAR | 7 @NO |
Schedule difficulty based on schedule-adjusted, positional defensive ranking. Top DEF = 1, bottom DEF = 32.
Game Stats
| Week | Opp | Rec | RecYds | RecTD | Tgts | YPR | RuAtt | RuYds | RuTD | Fum | YPC | STD | 0.5 PPR | PPR | Snaps | % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | @ATL | 4 | 67 | 2 | 6 | 16.75 | 1 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 9.00 | 19.6 | 21.60 | 23.6 | 54/58 | 93.1% |
| 2 | @HOU | 4 | 29 | 1 | 7 | 7.25 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 8.9 | 10.90 | 12.9 | 74/80 | 92.5% |
| 3 | NYJ | 6 | 85 | 0 | 8 | 14.17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 8.5 | 11.50 | 14.5 | 46/72 | 63.9% |
| 4 | PHI | 4 | 101 | 1 | 10 | 25.25 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 16.1 | 18.10 | 20.1 | 64/72 | 88.9% |
| 5 | @SEA | 7 | 163 | 1 | 7 | 23.29 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 24.3 | 27.80 | 31.3 | 52/61 | 85.2% |
| 6 | SF | 2 | 24 | 0 | 4 | 12.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 2.4 | 3.40 | 4.4 | 28/53 | 52.8% |
P
Injury Details (w7)
Status: Probable Injury: Hamstring | @DET | 4 | 58 | 0 | 12 | 14.50 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 5.8 | 7.80 | 9.8 | 52/69 | 75.4% |
| 8 | @NO | 3 | 35 | 0 | 9 | 11.67 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 3.5 | 5.00 | 6.5 | 51/58 | 87.9% |
| 9 | BYE | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 10 | NE | 6 | 115 | 1 | 13 | 19.17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 17.5 | 20.50 | 23.5 | 61/69 | 88.4% |
| 11 | @BUF | 5 | 40 | 0 | 9 | 8.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 4.0 | 6.50 | 9.0 | 66/70 | 94.3% |
| 12 | @LAR | 3 | 32 | 0 | 8 | 10.67 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 3.2 | 4.70 | 6.2 | 63/70 | 90.0% |
| 13 | ARI | 4 | 42 | 0 | 8 | 10.50 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 4.2 | 6.20 | 8.2 | 52/61 | 85.2% |
| 14 | NO | 2 | 15 | 0 | 9 | 7.50 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 1.5 | 2.50 | 3.5 | 65/74 | 87.8% |
| 15 | ATL | 4 | 64 | 0 | 7 | 16.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 6.4 | 8.40 | 10.4 | 44/69 | 63.8% |
| 16 | @CAR | 1 | 40 | 0 | 2 | 40.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 4.0 | 4.50 | 5.0 | 36/64 | 56.3% |
| 17 | @MIA | 3 | 20 | 0 | 5 | 6.67 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 2.0 | 3.50 | 5.0 | 39/67 | 58.2% |
| 18 | CAR | 1 | 8 | 0 | 3 | 8.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0.8 | 1.30 | 1.8 | 39/67 | 58.2% |
| Per game | 3.71 | 55.18 | 0.35 | 7.47 | 14.89 | 0.12 | 0.53 | 0 | 0 | 4.50 | 7.81 | 9.66 | 11.51 | 52.12/66.71 | 77.76% | |
| Totals | 63 | 938 | 6 | 127 | 14.89 | 2 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 4.50 | 132.7 | 164.2 | 195.7 | 886/1134 | 77.76% | |






