The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have selected Emeka Egbuka to be the playmaker of the future in their offense. Across the league you will be hard pressed to find anyone who has any negative things to say about this player. However, if there was one guy then it might be a former rival to the Bucs.
Former Carolina Panthers All Pro wide receiver, now an analyst, Steve Smith Sr. had a lot to say about Egbuka last week on his podcast. Of course, this was long before the Bucs were even linked to the Ohio State pass catcher. But it was a chance to hear the honest thoughts about the Buccaneers first round pick from a notorious Bucs hater.
In an over thirteen minute breakdown, Smith’s analysis was overwhelmingly positive. Here are some of the things he had to say.
“The biggest thing I walked away from, talking about a trait….quarterback friendly route runner” Smith said. He went on to elaborate “…he knows where the ball should be going, where the ball should not be going and understanding how the defense is being played.”
A Perfect Buccaneers Fit
Smith connected this not just to the physical ability of Egbuka running routes, but beyond that the football intelligence of where to be and when to be there. This can involve slowing down the route at certain points to find a hole in the defense and turning on the burners to put a defender out of position.
“He’s a pick that you know exactly what you’re getting. He’s old faithful, he’s old reliable.” Smith said. It’s for this reason that it was pointed out that Egbuka was where his quarterback, Will Howard, was consistently looking on third downs.
However, it wasn’t all positives about Egbuka in this podcast. Cohost James Palmer brought up concerns that were brought up to him by a scout. He was told, “I don’t really see it and I’m not sure that there’s a person in our building that has a really high grade on Egbuka”
To that Smith responded, “That’s because they’re idiots, that’s why”.
When confronted with scouts’ concerns about Egbuka’s speed, Smith had this to say. “That’s a team that’s hungry about speed. They only look and speed and height and have their prejudice about what they believe a wide receiver should look like.”
—
Smith also told Palmer, “Without you telling me, that team is probably a very sorry team right now”. Palmer went on to confirm that the team who told him that hadn’t been to the post season “in a couple years”.
Overall, this was a ringing endorsement by Smith for Egbuka. His intelligence, his route running, his reliability to make plays, his character and his toughness were all highlighted as strengths. Even Egbuka’s perceived weaknesses were not a concern for Smith because he understands that there is a lot more to playing the position than just being fast.
Of course, Smith is not the end all be all in wide receiver play. But he is a potential Hall of Famer at the position who now evaluates the game in his post playing career. Even if Buccaneers fans haven’t been able to stand Smith’s opinions in the past, this one might be worth listening to.
For more from J.T. click here, then make sure to follow him on Twitter.
Follow, Like and Subscribe to Bucs Report
BucsReport.com
For more on this and everything Buccaneers check back here hourly at BucsReport.com
