PHLY Philadelphia Eagles Podcast - Emergency Pod: Eagles Trade For RB Tank Bigsby

Episode Date: September 9, 2025

Howie Roseman, please let us turn our phones off for once! Another week, another trade for the Eagles GM, who is sending two draft picks to the Jacksonville Jaguars for running back Tank Bigsby, who will join Saquon Barkley in the Eagles' running back room. Does this mean Will Shipley is injured? A.J. Dillon peed in someone's cereal? Britain Covey can't cut it as a return man? We react to the deal in an emergency podcast. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

And welcome to an emergency edition of the PHLY Eagles podcast live from the Xfinity Mobile Studios, presented by Bet365 and Ashley Bowulf, Fran Duffy, E.J. Smith, in the middle of Monday night football, we have assembled the trade reaction Avengers because Howard Roseman just cannot help himself. He has sent two draft picks to the Jacksonville Jaguars, a 2026th, that is the Bryce Huff Trade, result so could become a fourth and a 2026-6th for Jacksonville Jaguars running back Tank Bigsbee recently named to this year's full sentence All-Stars E.J. Smith, what do you make of the addition of tanks Bigsby? Is Sequin Barclay out for the year? No, I don't think that Sequin Berkeley, I don't think this trade really speaks to Sequin Barclay. I think that the sense I get is that the Eagles

are bullish on their running back room. This wasn't necessarily a reflection of the players that were on the roster. But I do think that this makes me wonder about Will Shipley. Obviously, he left with a ribs injury. And I do wonder how long he might be out with that injury. And if he is out for a while, which again, it seems like he might be out in the short to medium term here, then Tank Biggsby really does factor into the return game as well as being a depth option at running back. Now, he has had a limited sample size when it comes to returns.

I think he had six last year and the year before he had four. So it isn't necessarily like a high workload, but he did average 32.5 yards per return last season. So I think he has some upside as a returner. I think that's what the, how the team views him is as a high upside returner who can also give you some depth at running back if Will Shipley is to miss some time with this ribs. Interesting.

So your your understanding of the Eagles messaging at least is that this is about Bigsby as a returner. Yeah, I think that that is front of mind. You know, I think the value that he can bring in the return game. Again, we hear so often about how the new kickoff return is a lot more of a running back game than a wide receiver's game. It's like inside zone. You want somebody who can be a slasher, get their foot in the ground, get up field. I do think that he has value there.

Again, I want to make it clear, though. It is a limited sample size. I don't think this isn't like a Cavante Turpin situation where we're talking about somebody who has tons of juice and has proven it with high level production. I think it's a limited sample size. I think it's probably more to do with the scouting of what he's. could be as a returner more than what he's shown as a returner in the NFL. I got it. I just, that doesn't pass the sniff test for me that they would trade five or six.

It could become a fourth, but it's most like that's the end of six. It could become a four. Or a guy who on spec you think is going to be a good returner. Like I don't, I don't buy that. Fran, what do you think? Yeah, I would say that that doesn't pass the sniff test for me either. You know, and that's why, you know, to me, as soon as the trade went down, you know, we're texting.

I'm like, all right, like three, they give up two picks. like that's not nothing you know especially to the uh not now like especially the revelation that it's the bryce huff pick which means that it could be a four yeah i mean to me like i'm wondering like okay like how long is shippley out for uh is a j dylan going to retire tomorrow like it is those kinds of things start going through my mind i do understand that you know look this is a guy that you've got team control on for two years will shippley while he has had a nice summer he's a certain kind of change of pace like back up back he's not the guy that you want playing downhill between the tackles. And if you like what you've seen with AJ Dylan as your backup change of pace guy behind

Saquan Barkley, you might view Tank Bigsby as that kind of guy in 2026 after you move on from AJ Dylan. So, you know, I guess it could be one of those things, honestly, where how he's working the phones. He's talking pass rushers. He's talking corners. You're talking with all these teams about something. And then this conversation kind of comes up as like, hey, you know what? Like if you got, while we're on the phone, like you guys have any interest in Tank Bigsby, how he says yes. And then they try and iron something out. But yeah, a five and a six, that doesn't scream to me like kick returner. That screams to me like somebody that they think can help them on offense as well.

Yeah, especially unproven kick returner. Like, there's just, that doesn't, I don't really buy it. Now, let's get into the player himself, Fran. You evaluated a tank coming out. You have watched him play. Now, there was, this was an interesting backfield coming into the season with him, Travis Aten and the rookie Bashal Tootin, you know, fantasy-wise, people are wondering. who's going to get those those touches.

ETN had a big day yesterday. Bigsby was solid last season. What kind of players tanked? Bigsby. Yeah, obviously, look, that offense last year just was not able to really hit on all cylinders. That's why they made the change that they did with their coaching staff. And so you go back and you watch last year, it was a lot of bad football. That offensive line was brutal.

And so you didn't get a ton of production from Bigsby. You didn't get a ton of production from ETN. I would say that Bigsby was more impressive on film than ETN. I thought you saw a little bit more volatile. volatility from ETN and you saw a little bit more down to down evenness, you know, from Tank Bigsby. Now, when I evaluated him coming out of the 2023 draft, he was my RB3 that year. I had him ahead of guys like Chase Brown, who has become a starter with the Cincinnati Bengals. I thought that he could be a low end three down back, maybe more of a like kind of

of the role that David Montgomery has fallen into in Detroit where he's like the 1B. I thought that he could be that tier of player. And honestly, I still feel like he could be that tier of player. That's what he had turned into with the Jaguars. And so that's why even them moving on from him is a little bit surprising to me. He's a big back. You know, to me, like I actually compared this year, Caleb Johnson was a third round picked by the Steelers out of Iowa.

I compared Caleb Johnson to Tank Bigsby. He's big. He's physical. He's got straight line juice. He was a good mix of like zone end gap schemes down at Auburn. He was the SEC offensive player of the year as a freshman, was a lot of accolades, was a guy that had a lot of pedigree coming in. And there was a lot of excitement with him coming out.

It just never, after that great freshman year, it just kind of leveled out. You didn't quite see him ascend. And Auburn has been on the downward spiral since then. But this is a guy that picks up hidden yardage at a high level. He runs really hard. He's big and physical. The physicality honestly really, really always stood out with him.

Anytime I watched him as a sophomore, as a junior. And then even here in the NFL, he returned a kick against the Eagles last year when the Eagles and Jags played. He ran over Nolan Smith on that kick return. You kind of see that that physicality consistently show up with him. So I think that he can play the role that you're hoping for, with AJ Dillon. I think that he can come in and return kicks like EJ mentioned that the team is saying behind

the scene. So I think he can certainly provide those roles. I thought he was a guy that had a three down presence. So no, I like the move. I like the trade. Now, again, two day three picks is not nothing. So that's, that's still surprising to me. Yeah, we're not talking.

And we're also, I mean, we're not talking to sevenths. Right. I don't want to pearl a clutch over a fifth and a sixth. The Eagles have a lot of picks. But, you know, usually when they would make this. kind of deal he would expect a pick to come back so it does it does tell you that this is a the bar is for day three picks but this is a relatively significant investment for them they have real expectations for him i remember watching him coming out and it was one of those guys where

i loved watching him yeah he had some of that um like a little bit like you said the hidden yardage like a lot of like make the first guy miss wiggle room for a big guy but the the profile it was one where like my eyes did not agree with uh with with with with with my head because I think the yards per carry were a little bit lower than his teammates, which was like a minor red flag. But I mean, listen, the other question here, EJ, is if the Eagles care so much about depth running back, let's let's say that I feel like the most likely situation here is that Will Shepley is going on IR. I think I think that is a realistic possibility here. Do you think that the Eagles caring this much about backup running back is an indication that

they are not concerned, but they want to be able to manage Seekoine Barkley's workload to an extent. Well, I think the AJ Dillon signing kind of alluded to that to a certain extent as well, like, you know, trying to get somebody who can do some of the short yardage dirty work. So no, I definitely think that that is a good read of it. It's like they want to make sure they have that rotation. We even saw on the opener, like there was that stretch where Will Shipley was in the game. It looked like Sequin was ready to get back in the game, but almost like let Will Shipley have a couple more snaps out there. So I do think that managing his workload is going to be important. And I think, having someone with the theoretical upside of Tank Biggsby. I'm with you guys. I really enjoyed watching him coming for the draft. So I think that, you know, at the very least there is some theoretical upside with him as a running back as well as, again, like as a team is sort of, again, my understanding of it being that he has some return upside. I'm with you guys.

Like I don't know. I think it seems like there's more to it than that. But yeah, I do think that that is also a factor as well. Yeah, got Sequin's apparently on the Manningcast. Somebody says in the chat right now, maybe they'll ask him about Tank Bay. maybe Sigmund's there to announce his retirement or that he's running for office. I don't know. I was glad.

I do think that we can say, like, you know, if you told me yesterday that, like, there's a tank coming to Philadelphia. I'm glad that this is the result of that happening and not a different timeline. Give it time. It's only 9, 10 p.m. Yeah. All right. I mean, I feel like we've, we've really.

I know. We've got one more thing to discuss here. Yeah. the a j dillan fullback conspiracy yeah it's bought up in the chat so i want to hear what you guys have to say about this uh why would i think it's possible that a j dylan could move to fullback i don't know why that would necessitate trading a fifth and a six round pick to get a different third running back to me it's just like fran you tell me what you think here but like you can probably find a better fullback than a j dylan being a fullback for the first time.

Right. Yeah. You wouldn't do. You wouldn't trade a six. Yeah. You would just sign a fullback from a practice squad. Yeah. The the tinge of annoyance that you will hear in my voice if they were to decide that hey, we're going to get into a run heavy look and really play smash mouth football. And they decide that they're going to put A.J. Dylan as an eye back

as opposed to Fred Johnson on the field as a six-offensive line. It would just really, that would really grind my gear. So, so yeah, that would surprise me at this point. I think they're more likely to lean heavier into like the Kyle and Granson type of looks. But even then, like I just don't think that that's a needle mover in the run game either. But we'll see. I guess crazier things have happened.

Now, Fred, you do have to tell the story of what happened as you were getting ready to put Francis to bed. Yeah. The news of this broke. Tell us how that all played out. So the news breaks or we're on a group text. We're saying, all right, let's do the emergency pot. I said, I'm doing bedtime with Francis. So, you know, we'll see what time we finish up. So I told him, I was like, hey, the Eagles just made a trade.

Like, finish brushing your teeth and we'll talk about it. So he brushed his teeth, he comes to bed. And he said, all right, like, who did they trade for? So I told him, it's out, you know, running back. He's going to be a backup to Sequin Barclay. His name's Tank Bigsby. And he sits and he like internalizes it for a second. He's like, all right, grab the film.

It was a very, very, very proud. So we watched through, we watched through probably like 20, 20, 2025 clips, 2025 highlights of Tank Bigsby, and then he gave his thoughts before he went to bed. So he sent the video to the text thread. Yes. My son's watching.

He's saying hi to Francis. Good time. It's great. He's, that was his second or third breakdown he's done on video. So he did Jihad Campbell. And it's honestly, it's like,

because now he like watches and he's like, oh yeah, there's Jihad Campbell. So he enjoys that. That's good. All right. Listen, we've given you,

we've given you 12 minutes. of Tank Bigs v. analysis, you're not going to get anywhere else. What can you do for us? Like the video. Subscribe to the channel. And if you really want to go above and beyond, you can join these supporters club for P-H-L-Y, which means that you get access to exclusive emojis and exclusive content behind the scenes. True sicko-level stuff, if you want to do that.

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Calm down. All right. Good stuff, everybody. We will talk to you tomorrow at 2 o'clock unless the Eagles make another trade, in which I think is not impossible. So, Julia, I'm sorry, but Howie Roseman just runs our lot. Unfortunately, there's nothing we can do about it. And congratulations to Kirk, who has joined the supporters club,

probably has access to the doing guys emoji right now. I mean, what's better than that? All right. For Fran and Francis and EJ and Julia, I'm Bowie. Thank you for watching and listening. Let us know what you think about the move in the comments. We'll talk to you tomorrow at 2 o'clock. And as always, we love you.