Emeka Egbuka had a tale of two halves during his rookie season. The Bucs’ first-round pick was electrifying in the first half of the year, hauling in game-winning touchdowns and making Tampa Bay’s investment in him look extremely savvy in hindsight, given the number of injuries in the room.

It was through the first nine games that Egbuka looked like a shoo-in to win NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year. He was outperforming every rookie wide receiver in football, including Panthers wideout Tetairoa McMillan. But just as much as he and the rest of the team got off to a hot start, his drastic dip in performance cost him the chance at coming away with any hardware on Thursday night at the NFL Honors.

Instead, the award went to McMillan, with Egbuka not receiving a single vote.

2025 Was The Year That Could Have Been For Bucs, WR Emeka Egbuka

The amount of optimism for the Bucs this past season was near an all-time high after the team traveled to Seattle and beat the Seahawks 38-35 in Week 5. Not only does that game seem crazier in hindsight given the fact one of those teams is playing in the Super Bowl on Sunday, but it is also shocking to look back on and see that Emeka Egbuka outperformed 2025 NFL Offensive Player of the Year Jaxon Smith-Njigba.

Bucs WR Emeka Egbuka – Photo by: USA Today

Egbuka and Smith-Njigba were teammates at Ohio State, but for one afternoon, it was the 2025 first-round pick who got the better of the 2023 first-round pick.

Emeka Egbuka in Week 5: 7 catches, 163 yards, touchdown
Jaxon Smith-Njigba in Week 5: 8 catches, 132 yards, touchdown

It was at that point in the year that Egbuka had the Offensive Rookie of the Year award on lock, with a stat line vastly better than that of Tetairoa McMillan.

Emeka Egbuka through five games: 25 catches, 445 yards, 5 touchdowns
Tetairoa McMillan through five games: 24 catches, 351 yards, 0 touchdowns

For as much as “Mek” shot out of a cannon to begin his NFL career, it was his NFC South rookie counterpart who put together a 1,000-yard season that saw him earn 82% of the votes.

Emeka Egbuka’s Second Half Fall Off Cost Him Big Time

The news in the music world on Friday is that J. Cole has dropped his highly anticipated last studio album The Fall-Off.

Why do I bring that up?

Because it is a fitting phrase that could describe Emeka Egbuka’s second half stretch last season.

Bucs WR Emeka Egbuka – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Through nine games, Egbuka had 677 receiving yards and just needed 323 more yards over the last eight games to reach the 1,000-yard mark.

Seemed plenty doable, right?

Except he did not reach that mark, limping to the finish line with just 938 yards on the season.

Egbuka looked far from the player he was at the height of the year, eclipsing more than 42 yards just once and failing to record a touchdown during that stretch. That was not without having chances to make an impact, as he struggled with a case of the drops, including what would have been a big touchdown catch against the Saints in the fourth quarter.

On the flip side, the second half of the year was when Tetairoa McMillan started to come alive.

Panthers WR Tetairoa McMillan – Photo by: IMAGN – Jim Dedmon

McMillan’s breakout game came against the Falcons in Week 11, when he hauled in eight passes for 130 yards and two touchdowns. He had a much more consistent season, closing it out with four catches for 85 yards. That pushed him over the 1,000-yard plateau, which was enough to win the award despite Egbuka and McMillan having nearly similar stat lines.

Emeka Egbuka’s 2025 season: 63 catches, 938 yards, 6 touchdowns
Tetairoa McMillan’s 2025 season: 70 catches, 1,014 yards, 7 touchdowns

After so much talk that Saints quarterback Tyler Shough could sneak into the conversation with his impressive play over the last five games, he had just five votes. Jaxon Dart, despite flashing even more potential than Shough, had just one vote. It would not have stung as much seeing a player at another position win it but seeing a wide receiver in the same division take it has to motivate Emeka Egbuka even more heading into 2026.