Emeka Egbuka’s Role In Bucs Offense Might Be Changing

Where Emeka Egbuka Is Winning And Where He Can Grow

Emeka Egbuka has been the Bucs' biggest downfield threat, catching four of his six targets of 20+ air yards for 113 yards and two touchdowns. He has been excellent at creating a window for Baker Mayfield to hit on deep posts, as evidenced by his game winner in week one against Atlanta. Beyond the deep in-breakers, Egbuka has also won outside the hashes on fades where he is working one-on-one in man coverage. His spectacular one-handed grab early in the Jets game came with Sauce Gardner, one of the best cover corners in the NFL, running step-for-step with him off a pressed release.

The Bucs are also using him for manufactured touches and as a part of the short game a la Godwin. The vast majority of his targets, 12 of his 21, have come of the under 10 air-yard variety. This includes four screens that have netted a total of 22 yards. The most impressive of these was the 15-yard tunnel screen for a touchdown against the Texans.

He has complemented the screens with some quick hitches that get him the ball quickly and ask him to immediately change direction from a stop. But he is at his absolute best when he can catch in stride and redirect while already underway.

Where Egbuka has yet to make a positive impact is in the intermediate part of the field. This is an area where the Bucs will need him to step up in the absence of Evans. Last year Evans and Jalen McMillan accounted for just under 50% of the team's yards in the intermediate part of the field. So far this year Sterling Shepard has been the Robin to Evans' Batman when it comes to that role. But as Evans is knocked out of the lineup, roles will need to change, and each receiver will be asked to contribute in different ways.

Although for Egbuka, it might not be much of a change.

With the increased usage of Cover 2 by defenses, the backside dig is going to become one of the most important routes in any progression. We have already seen quarterback Baker Mayfield go to it on multiple occasions against Atlanta. Egbuka will be one of the two receivers most tasked with slotting into the X position that runs those routes regularly.

And he should be more than capable of handling those responsibilities. In his final year in college, he racked up 17 catches for 296 yards and five touchdowns when targeted in the intermediate part of the field, including on those dig routes. Pro Football Focus credited him with his highest grade, a 97.3, in that area of the field.

The book on Egbuka as he was coming out of college was that he was a Chris Godwin Jr. clone. Someone who can eat in the slot on short-to-intermediate routes where he has a two-way go. But so far most of his production has come from wide alignments. That's where he has 10 of his 14 catches and 150 of his 181 yards, not to mention all of his touchdowns.

Now, most of that has come from off-the-line alignments as a flanker (Z receiver) and if he takes over Evans' role while Evans is out it will require him to line up on the line as a split end (X receiver) and face more press coverage. But as he showed against Gardner, that may not be the problem that it once was thought of.

By putting Emeka Egbuka into that role, it allows Tez Johnson to naturally flow into the role Egbuka has been playing up until this point, oscillating between short area manufactured touches and getting open deep, as he did late against the Jets for what was almost a game-winning walk off bomb from Mayfield.

All of this also allow Sterling Shepard to continue to work the short-to-intermediate where he has been absolute nails thus far. And if the Bucs want to throw in a changeup and get Egbuka on the move with snap-motion or work him into the slot, Ryan Miller is capable of filling in as the X for a few snaps to give offensive coordinator Josh Grizzard that tool to use at just the right time.