There’s something to be said for firing some draft picks at rookie receivers. Most years, a couple of rookies finish with top-30 numbers, and those guys tend to dramatically outperform where they were selected. Emeka Egbuka is looking like one of those guys this year.
Only Egbuka has quickly zoomed past the “relevant rookie” level. He’s looking like he might be one of the top dozen wide receivers in the league right now.
The early numbers have been pretty special. He’s caught 25 passes for 445 yards and 5 TDs in his first five games. That’s a career start on par with guys like Randy Moss and Ja’Marr Chase.
Egbuka is not only seeing the ball and scoring touchdowns, he’s getting downfield. He’s averaging 17.8 yards per catch, with a 30-yard reception in all but one of his games. That’s a surprise to me, in that he averaged only 12.6 and 12.5 yards per catch his final two seasons at Ohio State. He’s not a burner – ran 4.45 at his Pro Day.
But the production is pretty awesome. The search tools at Pro-Football-Reference indicate that only six receivers in league history have compiled more receiving yards in their first five games.
| 400 RECEIVING YARDS IN FIRST FIVE GAMES | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | No | Yards | Avg | TD |
| Puka Nacua, LAR | 46 | 572 | 12.4 | 2 |
| Anquan Boldin, Ari. | 33 | 497 | 15.1 | 2 |
| Jerry Butler, Buff. | 24 | 465 | 19.4 | 4 |
| Randy Moss, Min. | 22 | 463 | 21.0 | 6 |
| Stefon Diggs, Min. | 28 | 461 | 16.5 | 2 |
| Ja'Marr Chase, Cin. | 23 | 456 | 19.8 | 5 |
| Emeka Egbuka, T.B | 25 | 445 | 17.8 | 5 |
| CeeDee Lamb, Dall. | 29 | 433 | 14.9 | 2 |
| Malik Nabers, NYG | 39 | 427 | 10.9 | 3 |
| Terry McLaurin, Was. | 23 | 408 | 17.7 | 5 |
| Willie Gault, Chi. | 15 | 406 | 27.1 | 6 |
| Terry Glenn, N.E. | 30 | 403 | 13.4 | 1 |
| A.J. Green, Cin. | 24 | 402 | 16.8 | 3 |
| Louis Lipps, Pitt. | 20 | 401 | 20.1 | 4 |
While the numbers look great, I can’t say that I saw them coming in August. There was some optimism about Egbuka in camp, but the Bucs (to me, at least) looked like they would decline offensively, having lost their offensive coordinator and with Tristan Wirfs injured heading into the season.
And they had other wide receivers – Jalen McMillan (who’s hurt now) was great at the end of last year, Mike Evans, and Chris Godwin on the way. So difficult, I think, to back things up and logically conclude that Egbuka would be the rookie receiver to pick.
Two receivers, recall, were selected with top-10 picks: Travis Hunter and Tetairoa McMillan. And I saw Matthew Golden make a couple of preseason passes, making him look like a possibility to be Green Bay’s leading receiver. Golden may still turn things around, and McMillan looks fine, but Egbuka seems to be wrapping up that Rookie of the Year award pretty quickly.
—Ian Allan