With Mike Evans gone, Emeka Egbuka reigns as Tampa Bay's top target. We weigh his explosive potential against late-season struggles to determine his true trade market value.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers aren't looking to trade Emeka Egbuka.
There's a strong argument to be made that the 23-year-old is already Tampa's best skill-position player.
He ended his rookie season with 938 yards and six touchdowns on 63 receptions, leading the Bucs in all three categories.
Egbuka's importance was heightened by the fact that Mike Evans, the best receiver in franchise history, missed more than half of the season due to injuries. Now, Evans is out of the picture entirely, having signed a three-year, $42.5 million deal with the San Francisco 49ers. So now, Egbuka is the undisputed No. 1 receiver for the Bucs, and players like that don't often get traded. But the offseason is all about hypotheticals, and ESPN's Bill Barnwell laid out what the Bucs might get should they deal Egbuka.
Barnwell wrote that the Buccaneers could get a first-round pick and more, but that consistency is Egbuka's biggest issue.
Barnwell pointed out that Egbuka had three 100+-yard games in the first half, but in the last two months, never had more than 65 yards.
"Is Egbuka the guy who was on pace for a 1,288-yard season through Week 9 or the one who produced at a 555-yard pace afterward?" Barkwell asked. "This trade projection splits the difference between those scenarios."
A big part of Egbuka's regression was that the Bucs depended too heavily on him.
Evans wasn't the only Bucs receiver who dealt with injuries in 2025.
Fellow veteran Chris Godwin missed eight games. Jalen McMillan missed all but four. Egbuka himself dealt with a hamstring injury he suffered Oct. 12 against the 49ers, which may partially explain the second-half regression.
Egbuka and little-used Kameron Johnson (seven receptions, 64 yards) were the only Bucs receivers to appear in all 17 games. To put things into more perspective, the Bucs targeted Egbuka 127 times last year, the 11th most in the NFL and more than double the amount of the next-highest wideout (Evans at 61). So a lot will ride on how much Egbuka, QB Baker Mayfield and company have around them in 2026, especially with Evans no longer in the offense.
Can McMillan and Godwin stay healthy? Will Tez Johnson (322 yards, five touchdowns, 28 receptions) regress and revert to looking like a seventh-rounder, which is what he was in 2025? What will become of Ted Hurst, whom the Bucs drafted in the third round out of Georgia State?
Hurst is a pick the Bucs got a lot of credit for at No. 84. If his rookie year can be anywhere close to what Egbuka's was, it will make life easier for everybody.
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