Another year, another Ohio State WR who should go pretty early in the NFL Draft. At this point, it’s a very close debate between LSU and Ohio State to be the nation’s “WRU.” We’ve been very fortunate in the fantasy football world to see stud NFL WR prospects like Marvin Harrison Jr., Chris Olave, Garrett Wilson, and Jaxon Smith-Njigba enter the league in recent years. Is Egbuka the next Buckeye to make noise in the NFL? Let’s dive into Egbuka’s college production profile, his measurables, athletic testing profile and his film in order to get a sense of what we can expect from Egbuka at the next level.

Editors Note: This article is part of our Rookie Profile series going on until the 2025 NFL Draft. For more on each rookie, check out Andy, Mike, and Jason’s exclusive rookie rankings and production profiles found only in the Dynasty Pass, part of the UDK+ for 2025.

College Production Profile

Coming out of high school, Egbuka was the #1 WR recruit in the country, which is impressive considering that class also had guys like Brian Thomas Jr., Malik Nabers, and his own teammate, Marvin Harrison Jr. The young wide out didn’t do much in his first year, learning behind some dudes named Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson. However, in 2022 when he got his opportunity, Egbuka burst onto the scene with over 1,100 yards and 10 TDs. In that season, Egbuka essentially matched top-5 NFL Draft selection, Marvin Harrison Jr., in production:

• Marv: 77 catches, 1,263 yards, 14 TD
• Egbuka: 74 catches, 1,151 yards, 10 TD

I bring this up because I’ve heard many analysts suggest that Egbuka might not have the ceiling we’re looking for in fantasy, but any player who is capable of that production as the ‘WR2’ next to an elite prospect can certainly play. During that 2022 season, Egbuka averaged 2.81 yards per team pass attempt, an excellent mark for a WR prospect.

Unfortunately, in 2023, Egbuka battled knee and ankle injuries, and the QB play fell off as C.J. Stroud entered the NFL. Many wondered if Egbuka would leave for the NFL, but he decided to return for his senior year and chase a National Championship.

In 2024, Egbuka once again put up another solid season with over 1,000 yards and 2.22 yards per team pass attempt, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that freshman phenom Jeremiah Smith was a true alpha in this offense. Smith would likely be a top-5 pick in this year’s Draft if he was able to come out of school; He’s that good. Because of Smith’s emergence and the dynamic duo of TreVeyon Henderson and Quinshon Judkins churning out a ton of production in the run game, Egbuka didn’t really dominate in Ohio State’s offense the way you’d like to see for a potential fantasy superstar. That’s reflected in his 24.6% weighted Dominator Rating.

All in all, Egbuka never really commanded the offense during his four seasons at OSU, which certainly is a negative (relatively speaking) in his overall profile. For comparison sake, guys like Tetairoa McMillan (44%), Travis Hunter (35%) and Luther Burden (37%) all posted Dominator Ratings that, from an analytical perspective, look fantastic. That said, when you realize he played with other legit NFL talents during his entire collegiate career, I do believe the production is better than it may seem on the surface. After all, this dude set the Ohio State all-time record for career receptions.

Measurables

From a size perspective, Egbuka certainly checks the box at 6’1″ and 205 lbs. He’s not considered an imposing physical specimen, but as Kyle noted in his recent Combine Preview article, athletic testing at the WR position doesn’t really correlate to NFL success.

When you consider that Egbuka played 73% of his career snaps in the slot and he had just six deep catches all of 2024 per PFF, I care more about Egbuka’s route running skills and his short area quickness as opposed to his long speed. Unfortunately, we’ll have to wait until Ohio State’s Pro Day in March to get a better sense of his athletic testing as he opted not to work out at the Scouting Combine.

What’s On Tape

Games viewed: Penn State (2024), Oregon (2024), Notre Dame (2024), Michigan State (2024), Texas (2024), Penn State (2024), Michigan (2023), Georgia (2022)

1. Egbuka is a plus route runner with a good understanding of how to win against zone coverage.

When you watch Egbuka’s tape, you see a lot of ‘Pro ready’ plays. The young wide receiver has a quick release off the line of scrimmage, he’s strong over the middle of the field when battling through traffic, and he has a good understanding of how to find soft spots in coverage. This skillset should make Egbuka a very QB friendly player at the next level, particularly against zone coverage.

2. The run blocking is there.

Normally, I don’t really care about this at all for fantasy, but I wanted to put this note in here because I do think his blocking ability will help him get on the field quickly at the next level. NFL coaches are going to love this dude for his willingness to stick his nose in there and do the dirty work.

3. Even though Egbuka profiles as a slot WR, he has great ball tracking skills.

When you think “slot WR” you probably envision short area targets and while those are plentiful in Egubka’s profile, he does show really good ball tracking ability in the intermediate area of the field and down the sideline. Ironically, he’s a former outfielder in baseball and has said that his experience in baseball has helped his ball-tracking ability. That definitely shows up on tape.

What’s Not On Tape

1. A lot of targets deep down the field

Per PFF, Egbuka only had six deep catches in 2024, and his aDOT last year was just 7.9. In 2023, he only had two catches of 20+ air yards. The system in Columbus asked Egbuka to operate primarily in the short to intermediate areas. As noted above, he excelled in that role, but I definitely have question marks about Egbuka’s role as a downfield player at the next level.

Fantasy Outlook

The consensus around the industry right now is that Egbuka doesn’t really profile as a high ceiling fantasy prospect, and while I do get that argument to some degree based on his lack of downfield targets and non-elite production profile, Egbuka is arguably the most pro-ready WR prospect in this class thanks to his well rounded profile that includes some great route running and ability to work over the middle of the field. In other words, there’s a pretty good chance Egbuka has a higher floor than many of his peers in this class.

I talked with Jason and Kyle about this year’s WR class, including Egbuka, on this episode of the Dynasty Podcast. We discussed his profile and what we saw on tape in more detail on that show, so if you’re interested in a deeper dive on all of the other big names in this class, be sure to check it out!

Based on GrindingTheMocks, Egbuka has an expected draft position of 25.0, and he’s currently listed as Daniel Jeremiah’s 23rd overall player while Dane Brugler ranks the Ohio State WR 24th overall as of mid February. There seems to be a ton of consensus around the industry that Egbuka is a back of Round 1, top of Round 2 type of prospect. If he gets that NFL Draft capital, Egbuka looks like a guy who could contribute right away in year one while also being a very solid dynasty prospect.

If you look at the teams picking in the 20s of Round 1, the Steelers, Chargers, Texans, Rams, Commanders, and Bills could all use WR help. Any of those landing spots would potentially allow Egbuka to get on the field right away as the team’s WR2.