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The start to the season for Emeka Egbuka and the Bucs’ offense has been memorable on several fronts. While they struggle in some areas, the play of their rookie wide receiver is one that is getting noticed league-wide. When two of the Bucs’ starting wide receivers went down for the start of the season, a lot of weight went onto the shoulders of Egbuka, and he has handled that extra weight with ease at times.
Because of that, he now finds himself being discussed as a potential Rookie of the Year nominee. When Fox Sports’ Greg Auman made his early list of award winners from the NFL season, Egbuka was his choice for the award over the Las Vegas Raiders’ Ashton Jeanty.
He writes, “With a down year for rookie quarterbacks, this is up for grabs. No running back has won this since Saquon Barkley in 2018, with two receivers (Ja’Marr Chase in 2021, Garrett Wilson in 2022) breaking up the quarterback pipeline. Egbuka has been spectacular, with four touchdowns in the Bucs’ 3-1 start, including three in close late-comeback wins against the Atlanta Falcons and Houston Texans. He has twice as many touchdown catches as any other rookie and leads all rookies in receiving yards, looking like a gem of a pick from 19th overall for Tampa Bay general manager Jason Licht.”
Egbuka is off to a similar start that Ja’Marr Chase was in 2021 when he won the award. That bodes well for his chances to earn the award to give the Bucs some hardware in the award category for the first time since 2016, when Jameis Winston won Rookie of the Year for the team.
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