NFL personnel may have handed the Tampa Bay Buccaneers another reason to keep score.
In ESPN’s latest rankings of the top wide receivers in the league, compiled from votes by NFL executives and scouts and reported by insider Jeremy Fowler, Mike Evans - now with the San Francisco 49ers - landed as an honorable mention. But Emeka Egbuka and Chris Godwin Jr. were nowhere to be found, not among the honorable mentions and not among the players who received votes. The full tally included 26 players.
For Tampa Bay, that leaves two of its key receivers on the outside looking in, and it gives the Bucs a fresh dose of motivation heading into 2026. Baker Mayfield, who already carries what the source describes as the biggest chip on his shoulder in the NFL, could hardly ask for better bulletin board material after Tampa Bay’s ugly 2025 regular-season collapse.
The omission of Egbuka isn’t exactly shocking. He’s still young and heading into his second NFL season.
Godwin’s absence is easier to argue, though, because the talent is there even if injuries have kept him from looking like a top-tier receiver in recent years. The source frames him as someone with both the ability and the salary of a true No. 1 wideout, and says if anyone on the Buccaneers belongs in the top 25 at the position, it’s the former Penn State standout.
That’s where the bigger issue comes in for Tampa Bay. Mayfield needed more help last season, and he didn’t get enough of it from the receivers or the running backs, with injuries and performance both playing a part. Now the NFL has effectively added another layer to the story by overlooking Egbuka and Godwin entirely.
If the Buccaneers needed a little extra fuel, they’ve got it. And if Mayfield needed another reason to push his offense forward, the league just handed him one.
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