PHILADELPHIA - Tank Bigsby didn’t need long to show he could help the Eagles last season. What he didn’t get, though, was the kind of runway that turns a useful pickup into a fully reliable part of the offense.
That’s the big reason Philadelphia’s coaching staff views him differently now.
Running backs coach Jemal Singleton said this week that Bigsby’s growth has been tied to something simple: time. Bigsby came over from Jacksonville after Week 1 of the 2025 season and jumped in fast, but he arrived without the benefit of a full install or the kind of offseason work that helps a player settle into the language and rhythm of a new system.
“I think that’s the piece that often gets missed when you have guys that come in late,” Singleton said when Eagles On SI asked about the backup RB. “It’s, you haven’t been able to spend that much time with them, building that relationship.
“... And secondly, just in the meeting room listening and watching all the tape.
And we know these guys bounce around from different teams. It’s a different language in every building, so we try to immerse them in the language.”
Even without that full start-to-finish experience, Bigsby made his presence felt. He rushed for 344 yards and two touchdowns on 58 carries in the regular season, then closed the year with 16 carries for 75 yards and a touchdown in the Week 18 rest-the-starters game before the playoffs.
The burst was obvious. So was the fit.
But this offseason gave the Eagles something they never had with him last year: a real chance to build.
“That’s the best way to learn it,” Singleton said. “But having him here for the offseason and having him the beginning of this system install was great and good for him, ’because now he’s got more background. So he’s had the offseason, he’s had training camp, as opposed to getting here in week two or three like he did last year.
“Now he’s had a chance to grow. He’s had a chance to work with me for a year. I’ve had a chance to work with him.”
That matters because the Eagles aren’t asking Bigsby to become Saquon Barkley. They’re asking him to be ready if they need him.
Barkley remains the centerpiece of the backfield and, with the offense shifting to a Shanahan/McVaylike system, may be more important than ever. He’s also entering his ninth NFL season with the kind of workload that makes depth more than a luxury.
The Eagles know exactly what they have in Barkley. They also know what the position can do to even the most durable backs.
So Bigsby’s role is clear: not a replacement, not a takeover, just a dependable safety net.
Singleton said that’s part of the broader coaching job too - not just getting a player to the floor, but continuing to push higher.
“Now let’s keep pushing those levels higher,” Singleton said.
The outside view has caught up. Fantasy analyst Evan Silva of EstablishTheRun.com called Bigsby “the ultimate RB bench stash behind 29½-year-old Saquon Barkley.”
That label fits because it gets at the point of the whole thing. The Eagles don’t need Bigsby to carry the offense.
They need him to be ready if attrition hits. And after a full offseason, he looks a lot more prepared to do exactly that.
In Other News...
Eagles Fans Just Got A Nostalgia Trip Theyll Want To Revisit
For Eagles fans, the latest nostalgia play comes from a very different corner of the citys sports memory bank. The documentary No One Died: The Wing Bowl Story is now streaming on Amazon, Apple and YouTube, and it revisits the rise of one of Philadelphias most infamous annual spectacles through archival footage and interviews with the people who helped make it a phenomenon.
The film traces Wing Bowls place in Philadelphia sports and pop culture, pulling in competitors, organizers, broadcasters and former Eagles Jason Kelce and Jon Dorenbos along the way. For anyone who remembers the events outsized presence on the city calendar, it offers a fresh look at why Wing Bowl became more than a sideshow and how it left a lasting imprint on the Philadelphia sports scene. [Read more 🡒]
Eagles Fans Will Notice A Few Surprising Names Missing After Cutdowns
The Eagles move to the 53-man roster came with the usual late-August churn, but this round carried a few particularly notable departures. Philadelphia cut 36 players overall and placed two on injured reserve/designated to return, then watched four players get claimed off waivers, more than any other team in the league. Among the losses were Gushiken and Cameron Latu, with Latu landing with the Patriots.
Even after the cutdown dust settled, the Eagles still had a familiar-looking practice squad to sort through. They kept 13 players on the 17-man unit, including five who were back from last year, while also bringing in a few new faces as some of the camp cuts found practice-squad spots elsewhere. It left the roster picture mostly clear for now, even if a few names fans expected to see around a little longer are already gone. [Read more 🡒]
Eagles Draft Class Is About To Face Its First Real Test
As the Eagles move deeper into the 2025 season, the first-year class is no longer being judged on promise alone. A group that was brought in to add speed, depth and future starters is now bumping up against real NFL expectations, with Jihaad Campbell and Andrew Mukuba among the rookies who are expected to have bigger jobs on defense as the year goes on.
Philadelphia has also spent the summer sorting out which members of the class can help immediately on special teams and which ones are still more developmental pieces. That makes this stretch important for the front office as much as the coaching staff, because the answers on this class could shape not just the current rotation but the way the Eagles build out the roster in the seasons ahead. [Read more 🡒]