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Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Emeka Egbuka made quite an impression on the NFL scene in his rookie year in 2025.
But the Ohio State product doesn’t just think his purpose is to help his team reach its Super Bowl goals — preaching his faith is also high on his priority list.
Like many in the NFL, Egbuka uses his professional platform to share his Christian faith, something he said he found five years ago at a time in his life when he needed it.
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Emeka Egbuka of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers takes the field before an NFL game against the Carolina Panthers at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Fla., on Jan. 3, 2026. (Kevin Sabitus/Getty Images)
Today, if you go to his Instagram page, you’ll see that his name is “Christ Follower,” and he explained to Pakinomist Digital how his faith drives him on and off the field.
“To put it simply, it’s such a big part of my life because of what Jesus has done in my life, and I know He offers the same for every single person,” Egbuka said over Zoom after helping USAA with their “Huddle UP For Hurricane Prep” by building disaster kits and educating fellow Tampa Bay citizens about hurricane safety.
“He kind of met me where I was five years ago now, which seems crazy to say. I’ve been going with him ever since.
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Five years ago, Egbuka was just a freshman at Ohio State hoping to make an impact for the Buckeyes. As he continued to grow through three more years of college football, he ended up helping the Buckeyes win a national championship during the 2024 season.
At the same time, he said he began to find “peace” and “joy” with his faith and God, which he still feels today.
“The sense of identity that I have that I didn’t have before. There are many things in my life and many ways that I was struggling mentally that he pulled me out of,” Egbuka explained. “These are things that go unnoticed. These are things behind the curtains that people don’t see every day because we put on these masks, put on these faces [and] facades.
Emeka Egbuka #2 of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers walks off the field after defeating the Carolina Panthers at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida on January 3, 2026. (Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)
“But deep down, everyone deals with things. That’s life. It tests us all. There are trials and tribulations that come every single day, and we can do our best to stand firm and stay strong. At the end of the day, we’re human. We can only do so much to hold ourselves up when it comes to a point where we reach the end of ourselves—that was me where I was.
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“Just being able to preach about him, use my platform to spread the gospel. Just the hope that’s in Jesus is what I feel my purpose is.”
Entering the NFL community, Egbuka noticed others like Houston Texans quarterback CJ Stroud, Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Kirk Cousins, and many more who also shared his faith.
“I think it’s a blessing and a privilege that we should be able to be so open,” Egbuka added. “Obviously it hasn’t always been that way, but even nowadays in different countries you can be assassinated and killed for professing your faith and all that. We’re just in a society and a culture where we’re able to share that openly without any hostility or backlash against us. I think it’s a huge privilege that we have to be able to share our platform and use it.”
Another way Egbuka uses his platform is to impact his community, as he did Tuesday at the USAA Tampa Office, where he focused some of his offseason efforts on raising awareness of hurricane preparedness for an area susceptible to such natural disasters.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Emeka Egbuka surrounded by USAA volunteers making hurricane disaster kits ahead of hurricane season in Florida. (USAA)
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“This is not the first time I have worked with USAA, so I am happy to partner with them again,” he said. “Just such a great staff and everyone that works here. They’ve been so hospitable to me and my team, and obviously it hits close to home. I have a grandfather who was a Navy SEAL, father who was active duty for a while and now works in the Department of Defense as a civil engineer. I’ve definitely been surrounded by the military my whole life.
“Some of the disaster kits we made today, they have the whistles, the safety blankets – everything you might need when disaster strikes. That’s what we were focused on doing today. There’s nothing we can do to prevent a hurricane from happening. Obviously, staying on top of the weather and paying attention to the warnings and all that stuff. I know my house was just on top of the hurricane. Trying to do our best to be proactive with that and I think the kits we made today will go a long way.”
