May 31, 2026
During the offseason, we'll be taking a close look at Philadelphia Eagles players of interest who are currently on the roster but we may not know a lot about just yet. In this edition, we'll take a look at backup running back Tank Bigsby.
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The Eagles traded fifth-and sixth-round picks for Bigsby in between Weeks 1 and 2 of the 2025 regular season.
One of the many issues the Eagles' offensive staff had in 2025 was a misuse of their player personnel, and Bigsby was a prime example.
The initial plan for Bigsby was to be a kick returner, something he hadn't done much of throughout his career, and that did not go well. Bigsby struggled fielding kicks, and he quickly lost that job. He also did not get a single carry in his first five games with the team, prompting many to wonder, uh, why did they trade two draft picks for this guy?
However, during a four-game stretch from Weeks 7 to 11, Bigsby proved to be an effective runner in the offense, carrying 17 times for 156 yards in those games, for an average of 9.2 yards per carry.
Thereafter, the Eagles just... didn't use him in meaningful games. He got 17 carries in garbage time in a blowout of the Raiders, and 16 carries in the Week 18 "resting starters" game against the Commanders. But in the five other games from Week 12 on, Bigsby only got 8 (!) carries, or 1.6 carries per game.
On the season, Bigsby carried 58 times for 344 yards and 2 TDs. His 5.9 yards per carry average was almost two yards per carry better than Saquon Barkley's 4.1 yards per carry. Had the Eagles used Bigsby more, they probably would have gotten some positive runs out of him, while also keeping Barkley's usage down a bit. Everyone likely would have benefited, but, again, for no good reason they just didn't use him. 🤷♂️
Here we cut up Bigsby's 2025 carries. He's a fun player to watch.
• Bigsby had a lot of explosive runs. In fact, 13 (22.4%!) of his 58 runs were for 10 or more yards. By comparison, Saquon Barkley, who had one of the most explosive seasons in NFL history in 2024, only had 28 runs of 10+ yards on 280 carries in 2025.
• More often than not, Bigsby makes the first guy miss if he has any kind of space to work with. That, in my opinion, is an extremely enticing trait for a running back (duh).
• You don't want to see backs make too big a habit of bouncing runs to the outside. That's when they can get strung out by the defense, leading to tackles for loss. But Bigsby mostly did a good job of knowing when there was space out there, as a lot of his longer gains came on runs he bounced outside.
• He fights for every yard. I love the run at the 1:44 mark above. That said, I believe he has to be careful about those kinds of runs, as second or third tacklers will often come in and rip the ball out. Bigsby didn't have any fumbles in 2025, but he did have four with the Jags in 2024.
• Bigsby didn't get involved much in the passing game. He only had three receptions on the season for 34 yards. However, there's potential there. We cut those up here. This is a much shorter video:
That catch and run against the Commanders was excellent. He is a player that Sean Mannion should seek to get the ball in open space.
• Bigsby doesn't always follow his blocks. If he sees a crease he hits it. I think that in some cases that works for him. In other cases, there might be more yards there if he were a little more patient. But for a backup spelling Barkley, I think that's more of a feature than a bug, in that he is willing to take the available yards that are there without hesitation.
• Bigsby's frenetic style as a runner in unlike anyone else the Eagles have on their roster. I love his skill set as a complementary piece to Barkley. When the Eagles' run game is working, opposing defenses have to deal with the speed and power of Barkley all day. And then when Barkley's not in there, it's fun to imagine teams trying to tackle this unpredictable ball of energy. We saw that in the home game against the Giants game last season, but not enough otherwise.
Nothing has really changed at running back for the Eagles this offseason, so it's not as if Bigsby will be stepping into some sort of vacated role. Ideally, maybe Sean Mannion will actually use him in 2026?
He's clearly a player worthy of being on the field more than he was in 2025. But to be honest, I really have no idea if the Eagles' staff will also see it that way. 🤷♂️
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