{"id":16279,"date":"2025-05-01T22:01:10","date_gmt":"2025-05-01T22:01:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/16279\/"},"modified":"2025-05-01T22:01:10","modified_gmt":"2025-05-01T22:01:10","slug":"texans-attempted-to-trade-up-for-wr-emeka-egbuka-rams-showed-interest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/16279\/","title":{"rendered":"Texans Attempted To Trade Up For WR Emeka Egbuka; Rams Showed Interest?"},"content":{"rendered":"

As we come out of the draft, the annual tradition of what-ifs regarding high-value investments persists. The Falcons probably would not have traded a 2026 first-round pick<\/a> had Jalon Walker<\/a> been off the board (as the team expected) by No. 15, while the Cowboys had Tetairoa McMillan<\/a> in their sights<\/a> \u2014 before a Panthers move for the WR preceded Dallas not selecting a wideout at all last weekend.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The Broncos also eyed a trade-down move for<\/a> TreVeyon Henderson<\/a>; instead, they stood pat and circled back to their running back need at No. 60 (R.J. Harvey<\/a>). Henderson saw four of his Buckeyes teammates go in Round 1. While Donovan Jackson<\/a> (Vikings), Tyleik Williams<\/a> (Lions) and Josh Simmons<\/a> (Chiefs) came off the board during the second part of the round, Emeka Egbuka<\/a> looks to have drawn the most interest.<\/p>\n

Prior to the Buccaneers drafting Egbuka at No. 19, SI.com\u2019s Albert Breer notes<\/a> the Texans (No. 25) were believed to have made a trade-up effort to land him. An accomplished Buckeyes receiver who profiled as a slot option, Egbuka landed in Tampa despite the Buccaneers already carrying an apparent surplus at the position. The Bucs moving Egbuka off the board at 19<\/a> looks to have stopped the trade calls, NFL.com\u2019s Tom Pelissero said<\/a> during a Dan Patrick Show appearance.<\/p>\n

The Rams (No. 26) also were believed to be eyeing Egbuka, per Pelissero, who corroborates Breer\u2019s account on the Texans\u2019 interest. Both the Texans and Rams, who had been calling teams in front of them before the Bucs\u2019 surprise WR move, then traded out of the first round.<\/p>\n

Houston lost Tank Dell<\/a> to a second major injury \u2014 this one potentially threatening to sideline him for much of the 2025 season<\/a> \u2014 and a visibly distraught C.J. Stroud<\/a> looked on as an ambulance transported Dell out of Arrowhead Stadium. The Texans then let Stefon Diggs<\/a> defect to the Patriots in free agency, after seeing the veteran tear an ACL near the midseason point. Although receiver reinforcements came later in the draft, the Texans attempted to reunite Stroud with one of his college weapons.<\/p>\n

Egbuka stayed at Ohio State for four years, moving past 2004 first-rounder Michael Jenkins to become the Buckeyes\u2019 career receiving leader (2,868 yards). A four-year career and an extended season boosted Egbuka\u2019s chances to reach No. 1 on that list, but he entered the draft as one of this year\u2019s safest prospects. The Bucs concurred, as GM Jason Licht said during a Rich Eisen Show appearance (h\/t JoeBucsfan.com<\/a>) Egbuka carried a top-10 grade on the team\u2019s board.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The Bucs drafted Egbuka despite using a third-round pick on Jalen McMillan<\/a> and continuing to re-sign Mike Evans<\/a> and Chris Godwin<\/a>. The latter turned down bigger offers elsewhere \u2014 one almost definitely from the Patriots<\/a> \u2014 to sign a three-year, $66MM Bucs deal<\/a>. Evans is in a contract year once again, but for 2025 at least, Tampa Bay is quite deep at receiver thanks to Egbuka\u2019s arrival.<\/p>\n

Stroud\u2019s Buckeyes career overlapped with Egbuka from 2021-22. Although Egbuka shifted to a Marvin Harrison Jr.<\/a> sidekick (after playing alongside Jaxon Smith-Njigba<\/a>, Chris Olave<\/a> and Garrett Wilson<\/a> in 2021), his career-best 1,151-yard receiving total came with Stroud at the controls in \u201922. The Texans later targeted Iowa State\u2019s receiving corps to stock theirs<\/a>, adding Jayden Higgins<\/a> in Round 2 and Jaylin Noel<\/a> in Round 3. That Cyclones duo will join Nico Collins<\/a>, Christian Kirk<\/a> and John Metchie<\/a> in Houston.<\/p>\n

The Rams did not draft a receiver until Round 7<\/a> (Pitt\u2019s Konata Mumpfield<\/a>), but they did see Puka Nacua<\/a> miss a chunk of last season. That said, Los Angeles both re-signed Tutu Atwell<\/a> (on a one-year deal<\/a>) and added Davante Adams<\/a>. The latter\u2019s contract also includes an out after Year 1,<\/a> keeping another WR addition on the L.A. radar.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As we come out of the draft, the annual tradition of what-ifs regarding high-value investments persists. The Falcons…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16280,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2056],"tags":[80,702,7,221,253,2368,58,6,250,222],"class_list":{"0":"post-16279","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston-texans","8":"tag-2025-nfl-draft","9":"tag-emeka-egbuka","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-houston","12":"tag-houston-texans","13":"tag-houstontexans","14":"tag-los-angeles-rams","15":"tag-nfl","16":"tag-tampa-bay-buccaneers","17":"tag-texans"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114434833407703955","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16279","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16279"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16279\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}