Emeka Egbuka NFL Draft 2025 profile: Full scouting report, pro comparison, future outlook and more

Born and raised in Tacoma, Washington, just an hour’s drive from the Seattle Seahawks‘ Lumen Field, Emeka Egbuka is truly a byproduct of his environment. Both of his parents were athletes — his father was invited to try out for the Nigerian junior national soccer team before immigrating to America in 1996; his mother a three-sport star at Steilacoom High School in Tacoma who played volleyball at Saint Martin’s University. And both parents were scholars, each earning a master’s degree in their fields. Not surprisingly, Egbuka was a high-school honors student with a 4.0 GPA, a tireless work ethic and an incredible athletic profile.

Baseball was Egbuka’s first love. When he was eight, he won the MLB Pitch, Hit & Run competition in the 7- and 8-year-old division, competing at the 2011 All-Star Game in Phoenix. But soon after he discovered football, worked at it, and in 2017 earned a spot on the Steilacoom High School football team, where as a freshman he caught 44 passes for 808 yards and 13 touchdowns in 12 games. The following spring he showed out in a 7-on-7 camp in Las Vegas and received his first scholarship offer from Florida State. Egbuka was 15.

In the two years after, Egbuka became the talk of Seattle-area high school football, dominating at Steilacoom (he was offered chances to play at bigger schools but turned them down to play with his childhood friends). He totaled 45 receiving touchdowns and nearly 3,000 receiving yards in his last 26 games, adding four more scores on rushing plays, two more touchdowns on his sixteen interceptions on defense, five punt returns for touchdowns, only one touchdown on a kickoff return, and for good measure, averaged 33.2 yards per punt. Yep, he punted too.

Suffice to say, Egbuka had tons of accolades, was named a five-star prospect from 247Sports and could essentially write his own ticket to any college program he wanted. He chose Ohio State because he wanted to challenge himself as well as evolve as a receiver. The Buckeyes offered him the chance at both, even if it meant being away from his family, including his two younger siblings. In his four years at Ohio State he was coached by notable receivers coach Brian Hartline and worked alongside C.J. Stroud, Kyle McCord, Garrett Wilson, Chris Olave, Marvin Harrison Jr. and was effectively the replacement in the offense for Jaxon Smith-Njigba. He left Ohio State as the school’s all-time leader in receptions (205) and ranked second in receiving yards (2,868). 

Emeka Egbuka NFL Draft profile

• Age as of Week 1: 22 (23 in October) 
• Height: 6-0 ⅞
• Weight: 201 pounds
• Hand size: 9 ⅝
• Comparable body-type to: Eric Moulds

CBS prospect ranking

Position: No. 4 WR | Overall: No. 31

Consensus big board ranking (via NFL Mock Draft Database): No. 33 overall (No. 3 WR)

To check out all of CBSSports.com’s most recent mock drafts, click here.

NFL comparison: Keenan Allen

Egbuka is polished enough to contribute immediately for an NFL team and may evolve past being pigeon-holed as a slot receiver. But he doesn’t quite have the speed or overall physicality to be seen as a dominating alpha-type. He’s much more valuable as a savvy route technician and quality contributor, one who could easily earn eight targets per game in the right offense and be a quarterback’s best friend on money downs. Keenan Allen made a career out of that without flashing crazy speed or after-catch tackle-breaking prowess (and wasn’t a full-time slot guy, either). Egbuka is smaller than Allen, but his ceiling is right there. 

Emeka Egbuka scouting report

Accolades

• Career: Ranks first in program history in receptions (205), second in receiving yards (2,868) and tied for seventh in receiving touchdowns (24)
• Career: Three-time All-Big Ten (second team and third team twice)
• 2024: Team captain for College Football Playoff national champions
• 2024: Team-high 81 receptions
• 2022: Paul Hornung Award finalist (most versatile player)
• 2021: Honorable Mention All-Big Ten kick returner

Strengths

• Ran every possible route including multiple combination routes that kept defenders guessing. Post, screen and corner routes were among his least-run routes over four years, according to Tru Media.
• Nuanced handful for defenders to deal with thanks to well-practiced footwork and body control. Got a step on defensive backs with moves such as hesitations, jab-steps, shoulder-dips and head-fakes, all to varying degrees of quickness meant to spring him free by a step. Consider him NFL-ready here.
• Ran with refined tempo in his routes, changing his speeds based on coverages and assignments. Another perk.
• Like most players, Egbuka’s burst was at its best when he got a running start. End-arounds and motions often were a precursor to Egbuka exploding into space and turning up the juice on his downfield speed.
• Typically displayed good acceleration’ not quite enough to outrun people consistently, but enough to capably function as a competitive receiver. When given a chance to build up speed (think pre-snap motion), he often played at a faster level than normal.

• Very good awareness to not only thrive against zone coverage but also work into the blind spot of a cornerback playing off-coverage and use it to his advantage. Smart player.
• Would consistently show excellent control when adjusting to off-target throws, be it by slowing down or contorting his body to reel in the pass.
• Fantastic concentration overall. Knew when and how to close in on a target so a defender wouldn’t interfere. Capably made catches in tight spaces, even when defenders were lowering the boom. Tremendous tracking ability on longer targets. Yet another mature aspect of Egbuka’s game.
• Usually plucked passes away from his body and had a great grip on the ball. Additionally, Egbuka would often use “late hands” on deeper throws so as to not tip-off defenders when the target was arriving. Just three fumbles (one lost) over his career.
• Plenty of experience returning kicks and punts — averaged 28.2 yards per kick return (22 attempts) and 5.1 yards per punt return (19 attempts).
• Just two injuries of note from four years of college: an undisclosed issue in 2021 that sidelined Egbuka for two games, and an ankle sprain in 2023 that was serious enough to require tight-rope surgery and cost him three games. These are the only two reported injuries on him.
• Described himself as a “natural born leader.” Others would agree as he’s been praised by coaches as a mature team leader and “old soul” who stayed at Ohio State as a grad student in 2024, named a team captain and considered a key contributor in helping them win a national championship. Was also named Academic All-Big Ten in each of his past three seasons. 

Concerns

• Average body size and balance kept him from consistently staying on his feet when tackled or competing for contested catches.
• Lined up predominantly in the slot (72% of snaps in 2024, 65.3% in career). In his career, Egbuka had 54 of 205 catches, 836 of 2,868 yards and four of 24 touchdowns when lined up wide. He is capable of lining up wide, but he should be expected to be a primary slot receiver in the NFL.
• Wasn’t consistently explosive off the snap from a stationary position, typically needing several steps to get up to good speed. That could encourage defenders to press and crash onto Egbuka to slow him down.
• Generally shouldn’t be classified as a speed threat. His speed was good, not great. He got open much more often with nuanced feet and route running than pure explosiveness and speed, and frequently defenders would catch up with him. There weren’t quite enough plays where his top-end speed made a difference.
• Wasn’t a threatening after-catch receiver, especially against ranked opponents (4.5 yards after catch per reception). He fared much better against non-ranked teams (7.3 yards after catch per reception).
• No one will complain about his hands, but Egbuka did have a number of body-catches on film and he had five drops in 2024 (106 targets) and 12 for his career (282 targets).
• Played with the toughness of a 240-pounder but was actually 200 pounds, and sometimes it showed. Had a career tackle-avoid rate of 14.6%, lower than all of the other top receivers in the class except for Matthew Golden (and Golden’s was higher in 2024). Also, Egbuka would struggle on the occasions when defenders would press or jostle him in his route. Obviously there’s room for improvement here, but it’ll be a factor to start his career.
• Wwilling, engaged blocker on a consistent basis, but was rarely successful once he got physical. Sometimes he’d be late to attempt a block and miss his assignment, sometimes he’d get hands on a defender and he’d lose containment. Expect him to get better here as he gets his career going. 

Bottom line

Egbuka should be a regular part of an NFL team’s offense, but it remains to be seen if he can overcome speed and power issues to be a No. 1-type. What he lacks in explosiveness he does make up for in nuance, know-how and savvy, giving him a platform to be a quality contributor to an offense. A team may draft him to be a feature receiver and ultimately settle on him as a slot-heavy option since it’s where he’s thrived the most. Of course, much of this was said about Justin Jefferson once upon a time…

What other draft experts say about Emeka Egbuka

Ryan Wilson: Big body, fluid mover, natural hands away from body with good contact balance and has the ability to run through arm tackles. He gets in and out of breaks with urgency and YAC ability. He’s not a finesse player but more of a bruiser. When you talk about “big slots,” this is what you mean. I think he has some Amon-Ra St. Brown in his game.

Mike Renner: Emeka Egbuka is an incredibly high-floor wide receiver. He ticks a ton of boxes for the position and already has NFL-veteran level chops as a route-runner.

Emeka Egbuka college stats

Emeka Egbuka 247Sports profile

High school: Steilacoom (Steilacoom, Washington)
Class: 2021
Composite rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ (99)

• National: 9 | WR: 1 | WA: 2

Check out Emeka Egbuka’s full 247Sports profile, here.

The 2025 NFL Draft is to take place from April 24-26 at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin. More draft coverage can be found at CBSSports.com, including the weekly mock drafts and a regularly available look at the eligible prospects.