Taking charge.
So as Joe prepares to march out to One Buc Palace tomorrow morning for underwear football practice, one thing jumped out at him last week watching a Bucs’ spring tune-up.
Practicing with the first team offense while both Mike Evans and Chris Godwin took the session off, first-round pick Emeka Egbuka looked really smooth and comfortable on the field.
In fact, Joe thought (and typed) it appeared Bucs quarterback Baker Mayfield and Egbuka already were on the same page. Boy, that’s refreshing. And a good sign!
There was a reason for that.
Per Albert Breer of SI.com, Mayfield has been [leading team workouts](https://www.si.com/nfl/takeaways-joe-flacco-cleveland-browns-crowded-qb-competition#_r4d45u8za) away from One Buc Palace the past few weeks. And one of the key participants has been Egbuka.
Breer noted Mayfield has been more like an assistant coach this offseason in an effort to navigate whatever gaps and hiccups there may be transitioning from former Bucs offensive coordinator Liam Coen to new coordinator Josh Grizzard.
> That happened during the dead period, with Mayfield hosting workouts at the Tampa area training facility where he does his offseason work, and it should, at the very least, give the Bucs depth as they integrate first-round pick Emeka Egbuka (who’s already shown a very high football IQ) and bring Chris Godwin back from injury (the Bucs should have a better idea on his timetable at the start of camp; hope is there he could make it back for Week 1.)
Breer noted that Grizzard wants to keep the base offense the same but also wants to add wrinkles, aor in other words, Grizzard’s own personal snap. He and Mayfield have worked closely with this.
With Mayfield leading off-site workouts, Mayfield has evolved to be sort of an assistant coach, Breer types. Or at least a go-between.
So all of this explains to Joe why Egbuka has looked almost seamless in his transition from wet-behind-the-ears rookie to perhaps becoming one of Mayfield’s many favorite targets.