Tee Higgins vs. Emeka Egbuka: Which Mid-Round Wide Receiver Should You Draft?

Let's imagine a reality. It is fantasy football draft day. You have dominated rounds 1 and 2. It is now round 3, and you are on the clock. Your team can really use a wide receiver, but who? Perhaps you went zero-WR in the opening rounds. Which player can become my WR1 who has very high upside at a discount? I have two options to debate against each other...

Fantasy Debate: Tee Higgins vs. Emeka Egbuka

Higgins is the WR2 on this promising Bengals team. Over the past two seasons, Higgins has finished as the WR16 and WR6 on a fantasy points-per-game basis. As good as Higgins truly is, he does take a hit when playing with Ja'Marr Chase.

When Chase is on the field, Higgins averages 7.17 receptions, or 16% fewer receptions than without Chase. He has a 32% decrease in receptions and a 43% decrease in yards, but a 17% increase in touchdowns. In 2026, Higgins is operating with Chase. In that case, Higgins is averaging 14.4 PPR points per game with Chase opposite the center.

In 2025, that average would have put Higgins as the WR12 in fantasy football. My projections shed light on expectations of Higgins, which make him my WR17 in 2026.

The Bengals are a top-10 offense in the NFL. The expectation is that Chase will command 34% of the passing offense, with 23% going to Higgins. In total, Higgins projects to have 8.7 total touchdowns on 4.6 receptions and 62 yards per game.

What we evidently see is that Higgins operates with a very high ceiling, especially if Chase missed any time. He also has a very high floor with Joe Burrow active. The Bengals can field a 2025 Cowboys-esque offense that delivered top-10 status to both CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens.

As for Egbuka, we see things very differently. The now-sophomore endured a swing of a season that got off to a hot start, among the best rookies in the NFL.

Egbuka had been averaging 7.6 targets, 5.0 receptions, 89.0 yards, and 1.0 touchdowns per game prior to his 2025 midseason hamstring injury. Once the ailment hit, Egbuka maintained 7.7 targets per game, but fell to 3.27 receptions, 42.6 yards, and 0.1 touchdowns per game.

If Egbuka could have kept up that pre-injury output, he would have been on a pace that would've resulted in him being fantasy football's WR3. Instead, Egbuka finished as the WR35 on a points-per-game basis.

Fantasy managers now have high hopes for Egbuka's big and healthy 2026 return. Or so some hope. Egbuka is dealing with turf toe, and while he should play Week 1, he may not be 100%. It is a considerable concern at the moment, dropping Egbuka to WR26 in my season-long projections. In ADP, Egbuka remains much higher than I have him: WR19.

If Egbuka can play at full health, his ceiling will be quite high. My projections originally slated Egbuka for 28.5% of the Buccaneers' passing offense. He mildly drops to 25% as Chris Godwin rises to 23%. The Eguka projection has him going for 3.8 receptions, 56 yards, and 0.38 touchdowns per game. Given his pre-injury data from 2025, it is clear that Egbuka's ceiling is much, much higher than that.

Final Verdict?

As we discover two high-upside assets, I do conclude who your draft pick must be. The right name is Tee Higgins. He has less risk, operating on a better offense. While Higgins is a WR2 to Egbuka's WR1 status, the margin isn't as clear-cut. Higgins' WR2 output equals the WR1 output of many other depth chart leaders in the NFL. Egbuka, while the Buccaneers' top option, has a very narrow margin to Godwin.

Tee Higgins has top-10 upside that is more likely to manifest itself than with Egbuka.

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