Emeka Egbuka — Week 3: Ten Yards on Third and Twenty-Nine
2026 NFL Season · Half-PPR Scoring · Monday, Sep 28
Egbuka caught 5 of 9 targets for 62 yards and two first downs, and a 10-yard catch on third and 29 in the fourth quarter became a first down when Minnesota was flagged 15 yards for unnecessary roughness, the biggest win-probability gain of Tampa Bay's day. Nine targets and 62 yards both led the Buccaneers, in a 23–16 loss to the Vikings.
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17 to 13, Vikings, 10 49 left in the fourth quarter, third and 29 at the Tampa Bay 36. Baker Mayfield threw short right to Emeka Egbuka for 10 yards, and Minnesota's Josh Metellus was flagged for unnecessary roughness on the play, 15 more yards and a first down at the Minnesota 39. +3.2 expected points added — expected points added is what a play was worth given down, distance and field position — and 15.3 points of win probability, the chance of winning the game after the play against before it, the largest win-probability gain on any Tampa Bay pass or run. Third and 29 had come from a holding call that wiped out a 14-yard Mayfield scramble, then a 10-yard sack. The drive had opened with Egbuka's longest catch, 21 yards over the middle from the Tampa Bay 34, and it ended in Chase McLaughlin's 54-yard field goal: 17 to 16.
The line: nine targets, five catches, 62 yards, two first downs, −0.5 expected points on the targets, 91 air yards. The catches: four on third and six in the first quarter, two short, and a punt; 13 on first and 27 at the Minnesota 27 in the second quarter, after two holding calls had wiped out a Bucky Irving run to the three and an Irving catch, to the 14, on a drive that ended in a field goal; 14 over the middle with 52 seconds left in the half; the 21; and the 10. The four incompletions: deep middle on third and nine early in the third quarter; back-to-back throws on second and five and third and five from his own 19 later in the third; and third and 13 with two minutes left, down 20 to 16, the snap before Mayfield's fourth-down interception. Three targets before halftime, six after. Five came on third down; two were caught, and neither reached the sticks on its own yardage.
Nine targets led Tampa Bay, ahead of six to Cade Otton and five to Kenneth Gainwell, 26 percent of the 35 Buccaneers throws with a receiver. 62 yards also led the team, ahead of Otton's 56 and Ted Hurst's 40.
Back in June the preview leaned against Egbuka, a receiver being counted on for a second-year jump, and said to watch whether the targets Mike Evans left behind came to him or scattered. Week 1 was six targets, all before halftime. Week 2 was five, four of them after it, and through two games three Buccaneers had 11 targets apiece. Sunday he led the team in targets for the first time this season, and three games make it 20, the most on the team, three ahead of Otton. That is the first sign of the share settling on him, and it is one week of it. Tampa Bay is home to the Packers on Sunday the fourth.
_Data via nflverse._
When Emeka Egbuka's week moves the numbers, you'll know — every episode, in one weekly email.
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