TAMPA, Fla. - Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Todd Bowles said Monday that wide receiver Emeka Egbuka, the Bucs’ first round draft pick in 2025, is “day-to-day, week-to-week” with a toe sprain suffered during joint practices at the New York Jets last week.
Bowles added that he’s “not sure at this time” if this impacts Egbuka’s availability for Week 1. With Mike Evans now with the San Francisco 49ers, Egbuka is expected to get a large number of targets in 2026, although he is lining up primarily as a Z receiver.
Bowles also said that wide receiver Jalen McMillan, whom Bowles described as having a “banged up knee” and has missed almost two full weeks of practice, is “still day-to-day, week-to-week as well.”
A positive development on the Bucs’ injury front, however, was that All-Pro left tackle Tristan Wirfs started practicing Monday for the first time since suffering a hamstring strain in the team’s conditioning test at the beginning of camp.
“We’re starting to ramp him up a little bit, see how much he can go through this week, kind of go from there,” Bowles said.
He said cornerback Benjamin Morrison, who has not taken part in a team period since the beginning of training camp due to a hamstring injury, is “progressing,” and “he did some things today.” Morrison began doing some positional work last week, and Bowles said about the possibility of Morrison playing Saturday, “We’ll see how he progresses, and we’ll kind of make that determination on Friday.”
Morrison entered training camp expecting to challenge for one of two starting outside cornerback jobs. Zyon McCollum, one of the team’s starters on the outside last year, continues to be sidelined with a groin injury.
Bowles said backup quarterback Jake Browning, who suffered a back injury in joint practices with the Jets and did not play this past week, is “doing better,” and “we’ll see how the weeks goes.”
Browning is listed as second on the depth chart. Bowles said starting quarterback Baker Mayfield will play in this week’s second preseason game against the Kansas City Chiefs after not participating in any preseason games last year.
Bowles anticipates all healthy starters playing.