2025 NFL Draft prospect profile – Emeka Egbuka, WR, Ohio State

Is Egbuka being overlooked at receiver?

We haven’t heard much about the 2025 wide receiver class. This receiver group isn’t bad, but it’s relatively light on the kind of dynamic playmakers that get people excited.

Ohio State’s Emeka Egbuka, for instance, is a well-rounded receiver who could fit in almost any offense at the NFL level. He’s reliable, can play out of multiple alignments, and do some good things with the ball in his hand.

But he probably won’t be a “number one” for a team.

The New York Giants, however, already have their number one receiver. Malik Nabers has drawn plenty of comparisons to Odell Beckham Jr., so could the team look to Egbuka as Nabers’ Jarvis Landry, who feasts while defenses pay attention to the number one?

Prospect: Emeka Egbuka (2)
Games Watched: vs. Iowa (2024), vs. Oregon (2024), vs. Penn State (2024), vs. Indiana (2024)

Measurables

Kent Lee Platte | RAS.football

Strengths

Best traits

• Route running
• Run after catch
• Ball skills
• Competitive toughness

Emeka Egbuka is a well-rounded, dependable, and versatile wide receiver prospect.

He has solid, if not spectacular, size at 6-foot-1, 202 pounds and pairs that with good all-around athleticism. Egbuka has good quickness, agility, burst, and long speed, which allows him to be a threat at all three levels of the field. He’s also a nuanced and savvy player who understands how to weaponize every facet of his game against the defense.

Ohio State primarily played Egbuka out of the slot, though he also took snaps as the Z receiver and even out of the backfield. He has a varied and efficient release package which allows him to quickly get into his routes against both man and zone coverage. He does a great job of using his route stem to manipulate defenders. He varies his speed, stride length, and tempo to throw off defenders’ timing. He uses tactics like slow-playing routes before accelerating vertically, or running routes into defenders’ chests before snapping back to the ball on come-back routes. He also uses a wide variety of jab-steps, hip, shoulder, and head fakes to help create separation at the top of his routes.

Egbuka has the agility and quickness to execute sharply breaking routes, and enough speed to be a vertical threat or pick up yards after the catch. He also has very good ball skills, and does a great job of locating the ball in the air, tracking it, and making the necessary adjustments to haul in the catch. He’s a natural “hands” catcher who extends to maximize his catch radius and catch off-target throws.

Finally, Egbuka is a selfless player who’s willing to do the little or unglamorous things to help his team. He quickly transitions from receiver to blocker – or play lead blocker on QB runs – and plays hard when he’s used on misdirection away from the play.

Weaknesses

Worst traits

• Size
• Top end athleticism

There are few real weaknesses in Egbuka’s game, though he has some limitations that prevent him from being considered a potentially “elite” prospect.

Pretty much everything about Egbuka’s athletic profile is best described as “good but not great”. He has good size, good quickness and agility, good speed and burst, but just isn’t a stand-out prospect in any area. That would likely prevent him from being a truly dominant player at the next level, at least from a traits perspective.

Teams could also view him as a “Slot only” player, or perhaps a player who “just” plays the Slot and Z positions, and not a truly alignment-versatile player.

Game Tape

(Egbuka is the Ohio State slot receiver wearing number 2)

Projection

Emeka Egbuka projects as a starting wide receiver at the NFL level. He has some positional versatility, but would likely be best as a slot receiver who occasionally plays on the outside.

Likewise, he would fit best in an offense that makes use of his route running acumen, such as one based in West Coast principles. He might be limited to being a possession receiver in an aggressive vertical offense, but he should be a well-rounded threat for teams that scheme separation and run-after-catch opportunities.

Egbuka’s versatility and Football IQ should allow him to be a useful piece for an offense that isn’t afraid to get creative. He could have an impact right away, and he’s the type of player who often winds up being more than the sum of his parts at the NFL level.

Does he fit the Giants?
Yes

Final Word: An early Day 2 value