National outlet pegs Tampa Bay Buccaneer as one of the league's top sleepers despite an incredibly crowded positional room

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have one of the deepest and most talented wide receiver rooms in the NFL, if not the most.  With Mike Evans back on the final year of his most recent deal, Chris Godwin re-signed for two years, and Jalen McMillan coming off a promising rookie year, the Bucs are well stocked out wide. 

As such, that made the selection of Ohio State WR Emeka Egbuka somewhat surprising to some draft experts and fans in the NFL Draft back in April.  Tampa Bay pulled the trigger and selected the talented wideout with the 19th overall pick. 

Naturally, that's led to a conversation about where the rookie fits in during a crucial season for Tampa Bay in 2025.  One national outlet sees a chance for Egbuka to be a sleeper this fall. 

Pro Football Focus put out their list of their 5 sleeper wide receivers in fantasy football for 2025, and Egbuka was on the list. 

PFF did acknowledge the roster jam that Egbuka is facing to break out quickly this season: 

Egbuka's clearest path to playing time is by beating out McMillan for the Z receiver role. McMillan similarly played in the slot in college and moved out wide with Tampa Bay. Even if Egbuka wins the Z receiver job, there aren’t enough targets to go around. McMillan had a 14.8% target rate last season, which isn’t strong enough to be a fantasy starter. During the six games where Evans and Godwin were both fully healthy last year, all of the other receivers combined averaged just over four targets per game.

If no one in Tampa Bay is injured, it’s hard to imagine Egbuka becoming a fantasy starter in the near future. Even if Evans retires after the season, Godwin, McMillan and Egbuka are all better suited to be slot receivers or Z receivers rather than X receivers, making it challenging for the three to coexist. Both Godwin and McMillan will be on the roster for a minimum of two seasons.

Let's face it - Egbuka isn't beating out a healthy Chris Godwin for the team's starting slot position. No need to go further than that. But the X-factor here is knowing when Godwin will be back.  That's not a 100% guarantee that it's at the start of the season, and his level of participation for training camp will give us a bit more insight into that possibility. That could be an opportunity for Egbuka, who spent 548 of his 786 snaps in the slot last year at Ohio State, to get some early work in a crucial part of the Bucs' offense. 

But if Godwin is back, McMillan and Egbuka fighting for the team's starting Z spot would be a battle worth watching.  McMillan was splendid down the stretch, scoring 7 touchdowns in the Bucs' final 5 regular season games to help Tampa Bay clinch their fourth straight division title. 

And worst-case scenario, the Bucs have a tremendous insurance policy at a position where they've dealt with nagging injuries for years.  A terrific luxury to have.