Emeka Egbuka's first training camp scare of the summer played out in real time on Wednesday. NFL Network's Mike Garafolo relayed that the Bucs wideout limped off the field with athletic trainers, and the images that followed didn't do much to calm anyone down.
It got worse before it got better. Egbuka wasn't just getting looked at on the sideline, he ditched his cleats entirely and settled in to just watch the rest of practice, the kind of visual that sends fantasy Twitter into a spiral.
Egbuka is now on the sideline with cleats off. Watching practice.
For a team that just watched its 2025 first-round pick turn into one of the league's breakout stories, any hobble is going to get treated like a five-alarm fire. Egbuka went 19th overall in last year's draft and immediately looked like a steal, hauling in 63 catches for 938 yards and 6 touchdowns as a rookie and landing as an Offensive Rookie of the Year finalist. He did it running routes all over the formation, which is exactly why Tampa can't afford to have him out of the lineup for long.
By the evening, the update everyone was waiting for came through. Garafolo followed up hours later with the diagnosis, and it's the best-case scenario given how the afternoon started.
A minor toe injury is about as good as it gets after a scene like that. The Bucs are still in joint practices ahead of Friday's preseason opener against the Jets, and Egbuka wasn't likely to see meaningful preseason snaps regardless with the regular season opener against the Bengals set for September 13. There's no reason to think this costs him any real time, but after the kind of rookie year Egbuka just put together, Tampa fans are going to hold their breath on every practice rep between now and Week 1.