Emeka Egbuka injury update casts doubt on Bucs WR’s Week 1 availability

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have an injury concern with wide receiver Emeka Egbuka with just weeks to go before the start of the NFL regular season. On Monday, Buccaneers head coach Todd Bowles revealed that Egbuka is “day-to-day, week-to-week” with a toe sprain. Taking it a step further, when asked if Egbuka would be ready for the start of the season, Bowles would not commit to an answer on that. MORE: DeVonta Smith and 6 more fantasy football WR busts for 2026 Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times reported a few days ago that the Bucs were “optimistic” that Egbuka would be ready, so perhaps this is just Bowles playing it safe. It’s also possible that Ebuka’s injury is a bit worse than previously thought, but we can’t say that’s the case for sure. Whatever the case may be, Egbuka has a little under one month left to get ready for the Bucs’ season-opener on Sept. 13 against the Cincinnati Bengals. Emeka Egbuka’s fantasy football outlook Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Emeka Egbuka (2) participates in training camp at AdventHealth Training Center. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images via Reuters Connect (Reuters) Emeka Egbuka had a strong rookie season, finishing with 63 catches for 938 yards and six touchdowns. But Egbuka could have had more, as he was lighting the world on fire over the first 10 games before he cooled off considerably in the second half of the season. Part of the reason for that was injury, but another reason was the Bucs slowly got healthier at wide receiver as the year progressed, which led to more competition for targets. MORE: Baker Mayfield’s contract situation gets outlook from NFL insider Nevertheless, Egbuka ranked as TE23 overall, according to Fantasy Pros, which made him a flex option. In 2026, Egbuka has less competition for targets now that Mike Evans has left for the San Francisco 49ers in free agency. The 2025 first-round pick now stands to serve as the No. 1 wide receiver for Baker Mayfield, which should lead to a significant increase in targets and production. His biggest threats for targets will be an aging Chris Godwin and an unproven Jalen McMillan. Assuming all the positives we saw out of Egbuka last season were legit, his floor is probably a WR2, but enough volume could push him into a borderline WR1. — Enjoy free coverage of the top news & trending stories with The Big Lead Newsletter —