Bucs First Round Reaction

Whew. Licht and Bowles are gonna have a hard time justifying choosing Emeka Egbuka with their first pick of the 2025 NFL Draft if and when the defense is still subpar next season.

They passed on CB Jahdae Barron, my favorite defensive back in the whole draft, CB Will Johnson, who’s still on the board presumably due to his injury history, but he was probably the consensus best corner in the draft prior to his injuries.

Safety Malaki Starks ends up going to Baltimore creating perhaps one of the most exciting safety duos in the league, Atlanta gets a SECOND EDGE RUSHER in James Pearce Jr., and the rich get richer with Jihaad Campbell headed to Philadelphia.

The Bucs passed up on obvious win-now picks to strengthen what was already a strength, and in doing so, allowed already good teams to grab premium defensive players including a team within their division. Let’s take a closer look at what went into the decision.

There are some hard truths to accept before day 2 of the draft. Chris Godwin will turn 30 at the end of the year, coming off a dislocated ankle, with an ACL tear/MCL sprain in 2022. I could probably count on one hand the number of wide receivers producing at the all-pro level they were before coming off of a torn ACL much less a dislocated ankle on top of that. Yes they paid him a hefty bag of cash this offseason, and they’re optimistic about his future, but a third serious injury on the wrong side of 30 would create some difficult conversations at One Buc Place.

Mike Evans turns 32 before the season starts, and he was forced out for 3 games with a lingering hamstring injury, leaving Jalen McMillan and Sterling Shephard as the de facto WR1 and WR2 for three games. While he came back strong, the concern for injuries like that at his age is heightened, and Evans being in position to force himself on the field would have a cascading effect with more serious injuries down the line. Father Time is undefeated, and he’ll come knocking for Evans one of these days (hopefully not for another four or five years). Also, it’s once again a contract season.

Hard pill number three: the Bucs wanted Egbuka more than any of those defenders. Some Bucs fans are going to spin this pick as “Licht and Bowles bought a life insurance policy on Evans/Godwin”, and while it might be true to an extent, the Bucs were clearly very happy with Egbuka in the pre-draft process. Egbuka has been a consensus first round prospect for the first three seasons. The truth is he’s really, really good. He may be a Chris Godwin Clone in some ways, and you can’t really have two slot receivers right? Wrong. 

Godwin is more than a slot receiver. Last season he was well on his way to making a name for himself as a number one option, X receiver. Three of his best games all year, including week one hosting Washington, and Denver, and at New Orleans, were three of the four highest percentages of snaps from the outside. 

Egbuka was a great second option, partially due to playing with some of the most hyped talent at the wide receiver position in recent years including Jeremiah Smith and Marvin Harrison Jr., who’s physical traits demanded outside roles. But Egbuka was more than capable of playing outside. Egbuka ranked in the 96th percentile in yards per route run from the outside position.

(Credit Pro Football Focus)

I’m not even certain this has a negative effect on Jalen McMillan’s development. They don’t play nearly the same role, with McMillan being much more of an outside downfield threat. The Bucs now have a healthy sized platoon of wide receivers and a gunslinger who can touch the whole field. 

While I’m not a huge fan of this pick at 19 overall (I think they could’ve traded back and still gotten him), I can’t hate this pick. There’s still talented impact players on the board, with guys like Mike Green, Donovan Ezeiraku, and Will Johnson falling all the way out of the first round, and the Bucs front office is very happy with what they got. Egbuka was very popular in the Buckeye’s building, and Peter Schrager has said that he was one of the best interviews in the whole combine.

Licht and Bowles were very open about finding a defensive back and there is plenty of talent on the board still including Shavon Revel, who would have likely been a first rounder had he played the whole year, Darien Porter who is an athletic freak of nature, and Azarayeh Thomas who was one of my favorite tapes to watch.