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Should you draft Emeka Egbuka or Tre Harris in 2025 dynasty fantasy football rookie drafts? John Johnson breaks down their career production projections, landing spots, and fantasy outlooks.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Emeka Egbuka and Los Angeles Chargers wide receiver Tre Harris, both rookies selected in the 2025 NFL Draft, are two players commonly being selected in the first two rounds of dynasty fantasy football rookie drafts ahead of the 2025 NFL season.
Both are set to head into offenses that were above league average last season. That's something that changes from year to year, of course, but both teams have quarterbacks who have been productive passers, so it's easy to see why there's excitement around both.
Both have received plenty of hype as prospects and had successful seasons in college football, so it makes sense that these two closely ranked players might have fantasy football managers scratching their heads over who to draft. So, let's dive in!
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Emeka Egbuka Fantasy Football Outlook
It seems that the broader part of the fantasy football community seems to think that Egbuka has nearly unlimited potential in the NFL. Good route runners from big schools who have a history of at least solid production tend to have swaths of supporters who swear by their elite potential.
Criticisms of Egbuka are often met with derision. You can probably guess by now that I'm more critical of him than the larger community. Egbuka was pretty much never the team's WR1. He was always outproduced by the likes of Chris Olave, Garrett Wilson, Marvin Harrison Jr., and Jeremiah Smith.
Emeka Egbuka had 4 years to become the WR1 at Ohio State. He got outplayed every year because he's a slot guy at the next level. He doesn't have the speed to win on deep routes. His ceiling is a good WR2 slot guy but that's about it. He's fine if you draft him with that in mind pic.twitter.com/0iFJOWOdH2
— JohnJohn Analysis (@JohnJohnalytics) June 21, 2025
Egbuka's capital just feels a bit rich. Wide receivers drafted in the first round of rookie drafts, especially those inside the top eight, are generally players I hope have a chance of becoming a team's clear WR1 at some point. But Egbuka doesn't profile as that at all.
At Ohio State, there was always someone else playing the "X" WR position. Egbuka simply doesn't have the downfield juice to do that. He's much better matched up against less athletic safeties and slot cornerbacks. He does have a nice bend to his routes and solid physicality at the catch point.
Quinten Johnson lays the hammer on Emeka Egbuka 🔨
An underrated moment in The Big House pic.twitter.com/g7tdBsBPgv
— Bo (@MaizeandBo) May 18, 2025
Of course, there are still those who will point at his 40-yard dash supposedly being 4.45 seconds as evidence that he's super fast and can win deep. Luckily for us, the film proves otherwise. This doesn't mean he's a bad player to have on an NFL team. He can be a solid, high-floor chain-mover for a decade at the next level.
But that's not something to get overly excited about in fantasy football. He landed in a good situation with the Buccaneers, but they already have a slot receiver in Chris Godwin, who performed very well last season and signed a multiyear extension with the team.
Chris Godwin expects to play primarily from the slot in 2025.
His slot/wide splits per @FantasyPtsData over the last two seasons:
Slot: 2.58 YPRR (~WR6), 0.58 FP/RR (~WR7)
Wide: 1.78 YPRR (~WR46), 0.36 FP/RR (~WR51)Godwin's 16.1 Underdog FPG was 2nd-best among WRs last year. pic.twitter.com/xxG45wGPj9
— Ryan Heath (@RyanJ_Heath) June 9, 2025
The Buccaneers stated after the draft that they picked Egbuka just because they thought he was a great football player. He won't be immediately put into the role he needs to succeed. It's a bit tough imagining what they'll do next year in a crowded WR room.
I don't think he'll have a very impressive Year 1, and his value should dip pretty significantly after that. Picking him in Round 1 of rookie drafts seems like a mistake to me. The upside scenario in the next few years isn't that good and requires multiple injuries to the team's other receivers.
Tre Harris Fantasy Football Outlook
Harris is a very interesting case to look into. I used to buy into Harris being an elite receiver at the next level. His efficiency in 2024 was chart-bustingly elite -- he averaged an absurd 5.12 yards per route run in 2024, the best of any wide receiver in history.
He also recorded over nine yards per route run against man coverage. These numbers are absolutely obscene and easily multiple standard deviations above the competition. But digging a little deeper into his profile uncovers a few alarming red flags.
Tre Harris just became the first Power Conference WR in PFF College history to average >5.00 YPRR in a single season (min. 200 routes) pic.twitter.com/IGb4BtwLK6
— Scott Barrett (@ScottBarrettDFB) January 22, 2025
Harris' athleticism is the biggest problem with his profile. It's not that his 4.54-second 40-yard dash is an issue. Plenty of WRs have run similar times and gone on to have successful careers. But straight-line speed and acceleration are only a part of the picture.
I've got some bad news for you...
College Career contested target rate:
Tre Harris - 28.4%
Quentin Johnston - 27.1% https://t.co/5tPn45RLLh— Fusue (@DevyEusuf) June 7, 2025
Harris' separation skills were among some of the worst in the class among the highly touted wide receivers. Contested targets happen on plays where the receiver is thrown a pass and doesn't have good separation. It happening very often for Harris is a concern.
Contested target/catch rates from 2025 WRs pic.twitter.com/lCgUsDvM12
— Football Insights 📊 (@fball_insights) April 2, 2025
In addition, a large part of his production is due to Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin's schemes creating so much space for the team's WR1 and feeding him the ball as much as possible. Harris thrived on screens and passes on comeback and slant routes, where the offensive formations diverted attention away from him.
Tre Harris 2024 YPRR*: 5.12
Jordan Watkins 2024 YPRR in games Tre Harris was inactive**: 3.55
* 46% of routes vs SEC, 54% of routes vs Furman, Middle Tennessee, Wake Forest, GA Southern
** 75% of routes vs SEC, 25% vs Duke
— A.B. (@FantasyKash) May 6, 2025
Harris' injuries meant he played the majority of his games against non-SEC competition, which is a big reason why his numbers were so elite. In the games he missed, though, Ole Miss WR Jordan Watkins stepped into that coveted WR1 role and immediately produced monster numbers, especially against Arkansas.
The 49ers drafted Ole Miss wide receiver Jordan Watkins in the fourth round. 5-11, 195, 4.37 40. He caught eight passes for 254 yards and 5 touchdowns against Arkansas last season. Here’s all of them: pic.twitter.com/rz5CDkFZy2
— Rob Lowder (@Rob_Lowder) May 1, 2025
It wouldn't be a huge stretch to call a lot of Harris' production fraudulent. Rarely was he put into bad positions -- he pretty much always had the benefit of the whole passing game scheme being designed around him since he was the WR1.
There are some things that Harris does well, of course. He wins with regularity on slant and comeback routes, some of Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert's favorite routes to throw. In addition, he effectively sells his routes when running deep, doing a good job of getting defensive backs off balance.
He has some nuance to his route-running game in that he can make different routes look pretty much the same up until just before his cuts, too. And with Herbert, who has a rocket launcher of an arm, perhaps his separation issues won't be too awful.
Justin Herbert LOL. Just incredible arm talent. pic.twitter.com/XEgQFhGU3E
— Ben Cummins (@BenCumminsFF) September 25, 2023
The opportunity is nice as well. The Chargers were in desperate need of a second viable receiving threat last season. After WR Ladd McConkey, they didn't have one. Harris will likely step into the role that Quentin Johnston could have had if he weren't awful. Too bad he's awful.
Johnston should easily cede his WR2 spot to Harris. Johnston has bricks for hands and plays much smaller than he is. So, Harris has some clear upside in the near and far future.
Verdict
As with all debates on which player to draft, it comes down to price. On an offense with more opportunity available, and in a clear WR2 role, is more interesting than a guy we don't even know may get the slot role in the next few seasons, a role that he desperately needs.
Harris is around five spots lower than Egbuka in ADP. You can get him with a second-round pick as opposed to spending your precious Round 1 selection. So, the choice is pretty obvious -- Harris is the better player to pick right now.
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