The anticipation for draft night is a lot like Christmas morning. It's a joyful occasion filled with hope of what lies beneath the glowing sparkle of the tree.
Sometimes, though, all that expectation erodes into frustration. The present you anxiously waited for has the wrong name attached. That train set should be yours, but now you must endure the smugness of your brother, who pretends to enjoy the Pennsylvania Flyer chugging around the track, reveling in the painful reality of how badly you wanted it.
Father Draftmas has played this sick joke on the Green Bay Packers once too often, and it's happening again before our eyes.
Cooper DeJean. Jaxon Smith-Njigba. Now Emeka Egbuka.
Players destined for green and gold stolen by the wrong teams. DeJean's Super Bowl pick-six haunted the Packers. He became Philadelphia's new hero — their Pennsylvania Flyer, if you will.
Packers fans have watched draft-day dreams become in-season nightmares, and Egbuka, like his college teammate Smith-Njigba, is now etching his name on this heartbreaking list while soaring to the stars in Tampa Bay.
Packers missing out on Emeka Egbuka is turning into yet another painful draft-day miss
Your brother didn't really want that train set. Sure, he'll enjoy it, but you needed it. That's Egbuka to the Packers.
The Buccaneers have big-brothered the Packers in recent meetings, from NFC title game agony to Baker Mayfield's perfect passer rating. They did it again on draft night. They didn't need to add Egbuka, a first-round talent with all-world potential, to their already sparkling wide receiver room. Nobody saw it coming.
Through all the pre-draft rumors and predictions, two names came into focus for the Packers at No. 22: Egbuka and Matthew Golden.
Green Bay settled on the latter, and Golden has shown flashes of star potential to offer hope, but it does little to ease the short-term pain of watching Egbuka dazzle in pewter and red. His 445 receiving yards rank fourth in the NFL entering Week 6, leaving every other rookie receiver in the dust. Only one pass-catcher has more receiving touchdowns than Egbuka's five.
Golden's time will come, but Egbuka is the real deal. He's on a historic pace, becoming the first player in NFL history to make at least 25 receptions, 400 receiving yards, and five receiving touchdowns in their opening five contests.
Father Draftmas has inflicted more misery on Packers fans.
In a cruel twist, the Bucs' past two games have come against the Seahawks and Eagles, a gauntlet of draft crushes Santa never delivered. DeJean led Philly in tackles in the first game, before Egbuka and Smith-Njigba combined for 295 yards and two touchdowns a week later.
Packers fans innocently watching Red Zone could be forgiven for resembling Ebenezer Scrooge as the Ghost of Draft-Day Past and Present paid them a visit.
Missing out on Egbuka stings. The final hope of him wearing green and gold left the station three picks before the Packers hit the clock. Instead, general manager Brian Gutekunst boarded the Golden Hype Train, which may still prove to be the best gift after all.
The breakout signs flashed brightly during the tie in Dallas — Golden hauled in five passes for 58 yards, including a 46-yarder on the opening drive.
Green Bay needs those hopeful embers to ignite into a blazing golden fire. Egbuka's lightning start heightens the need for the Packers to hit on their first-round receiver, especially as they traded away their next two Day 1 picks in the Micah Parsons deal.
Packers fans didn't get the Pennsylvania Flyer they desperately wanted, but this Christmas tale ends with some optimism. In Green Bay's three wise men — Gutekunst, Matt LaFleur, and Ed Policy — we trust.
They missed Egbuka and skipped the frankincense and myrrh, but they swung big, ensuring the Packers' final first-round pick until 2028 was truly Golden.