Running back Tank Bigsby is ready to reach his ‘full potential’ after joining the Eagles
Bigsby was Jacksonville's leading rusher last season and will vie for roles in the Eagles' backfield and as a returner. “I’m just here to do whatever they ask me to do," Bigsby said.
Tank Bigsby wasn’t that surprised to learn about his trade to the Eagles on Monday, just one day after his final game as a member of the Jacksonville Jaguars.
The running back’s fate was written in the box score. In the Jaguars’ season-opening win over the Carolina Panthers, Bigsby took just 14 offensive snaps (21%) and posted five carries for 12 yards. Despite leading the Jaguars in rushing yards in 2024, Bigsby’s snaps against the Panthers paled in comparison to Travis Etienne, who racked up 16 carries for 143 yards on 40 snaps (61%).
Bigsby, the Jaguars’ 2023 third-round pick out of Auburn, said Wednesday after his first practice with the Eagles that he was “expecting something” to happen based on how the game went. As a result, he had a positive outlook on his next stop.
“I was like, ‘OK, let’s go,’” Bigsby said. “It’s just a good opportunity to go and do something great. So I was happy about it. Thank the Lord about it. I can’t sit there and complain. It’s the next opportunity. I’m with the Eagles now, and it’s time to go.”
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This “next opportunity” for Bigsby could be promising. The Eagles need kick-returning help, given that Will Shipley suffered an oblique injury in the Eagles’ season opener against the Dallas Cowboys, and Ben VanSumeren suffered a season-ending knee injury on the opening kickoff. The Eagles finished with 16 yards per kick return, which tied for the second-lowest average in the league.
The 5-foot-11, 215-pound Bigsby brings a bit of kick-returning experience to the Eagles special-teams corps. He had only seven kickoff returns over the last two seasons (11 total in his three-year career). Still, he’s been effective on those opportunities in that two-year span, averaging 30.7 yards per return (tied for 11th in the league among players with at least five returns).
Bigsby likened the relatively new kickoff format to a “big old zone run,” which he said works to his strengths as a running back.
“Just getting downhill,” Bigsby said. “Making a guy miss. Trying to hit it right now. Hit it fast and don’t think about it. Don’t tiptoe. Don’t do none of those things, just hit it. [Because] the way the kick return’s set up now is, shoot, you see a gap, you can hit it, you can create something.”
If Shipley can’t play, could Bigsby create something this Sunday, when the Eagles visit the Kansas City Chiefs in a Super Bowl rematch?
“I don’t know,” Bigsby said. “I’m just here to do whatever they ask me to do and do my job at the full potential. So whatever they ask me to do, just be on my best at that.”
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At the very least, he’s getting acclimated to the Eagles’ special teams. Bigsby took kick return reps in practice on Wednesday alongside wide receiver John Metchie, who took Shipley’s place as kick returner for the second half after the running back went down last Thursday.
But Bigsby also is eyeing a depth role behind Saquon Barkley. With Shipley sidelined for an undisclosed amount of time, the Eagles could have a short-term opening for a backup running back. AJ Dillon, whom the team added on a one-year deal in the offseason, spelled Barkley in the second half after Shipley exited.
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Bigsby said he doesn’t know yet what his exact role will be with the Eagles. Even if the Eagles look to Dillon in the short term, Bigsby could contend for the backup running back gig in the long term. The 24-year-old Bigsby is under contract through 2026, whereas Dillon is set to become a free agent in the offseason.
Last season, Bigsby was the Jaguars’ go-to tailback. He finished the season with 766 rushing yards and seven touchdowns on 168 carries. Even though Bigsby was crowded out of the running backs room in Jacksonville, which included Etienne and a pair of 2025 draft picks, he’s still confident in the strengths he brings to the Eagles’ group.
“Run the ball,” Bigsby said. “Break tackles and do what I do. Run hard. … And use my vision to be who I am, be who God called me to be.”
He expressed the sentiment that he still has more to give — and more to learn. Bigsby is eager to soak in some wisdom from Barkley, whom he called “the best in the league.” After all, he had an up-close, in-person view of Barkley’s backward hurdle in Week 9 last season in the Jaguars’ loss to the Eagles.
“He’s different, you know?” Bigsby said. “Jumping over somebody backward, it don’t happen like that. And just his character. Who he is. You can tell how he is. So just looking forward to seeing him play, being around him, and engaging with him and engaging with this team.”
Bigsby doesn’t yet know when or how his first on-field opportunity with the Eagles will come about. When it does, though, he emphasized that he will take advantage of it.
“Just be me,” Bigsby said. “When I get an opportunity, just be me for this team and come out and compete. Do what Tank do best and do what I have to do for this team.”