Emeka Egbuka – Tampa Bay Buccaneers
When Egbuka was selected by Tampa Bay with the 19th pick in the first round, the wide receiver became the first Buckeye taken in the 2025 NFL Draft. This pick felt like an immediate home run, especially since the Bucs took a Buckeye.
The fit makes even more sense when you look at what Tampa Bay is trying to do on offense. Now Egbuka has a chance to work with one of the most productive quarterbacks in the league over the last two seasons.
Tampa Bay already has Mike Evans as their top wide receiver, so it’s not like Egbuka has to step in immediately and become the leader of Tampa’s group of receivers. Even though Evans is still putting up big numbers, this will be his 12th season in the NFL. At some point there is going to be a year where Evans doesn’t crack 1,000 yards receiving.
Along with Evans turning 32 before the regular season starts, Chris Godwin will be coming off his second season-ending injury since 2021. Even though Godwin responded with over 100 catches in 2022 after tearing his ACL late in the 2021 season, there is no guarantee that he will be able to replicate the bounce back after an ankle injury seven games into the season forced him to miss the rest of the year.
With Egbuka now in the fold, some of the pressure has been taken off of Godwin. While the former Penn State receiver will be ready to return the field for the season opener, he can ease back into action since the Buccaneers have added more weapons to their receiving corps.
Coming off of their national championship victory in January, Ohio State had 14 players selected in the 2025 NFL Draft. While Ohio State fell just short of tying Georgia for having the most players selected in a single draft, a lot of the Buckeyes that were drafted are heading to places where they could have immediate success.
These are the six picks that I think are the best fits among the Ohio State players drafted this year.
