Jacksonville Jaguars RB Tank Bigsby could have been traded because of his attitude.
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Jacksonville Jaguars RB Tank Bigsby could have been traded because of his attitude.
The Jacksonville Jaguars just traded running back Tank Bigsby to the Philadelphia Eagles for fifth- and sixth-round picks in the 2026 NFL Draft. Many just assumed it had to do with Travis Etienne‘s big Week 1 against the Carolina Panthers.
And, maybe that had something to do with it. But, former NFL linebacker and current 1010 XL host Jeff Lageman thinks it could be because of Bigsby’s attitude. Apparently, Bigsby wasn’t celebrating enough (at all) following the Jaguars win over the Panthers.
“I just think he had a player who was probably not happy with his rotation and his touches,” Lageman said. “At the conclusion of that game. And that’s why it was kind of eerie, is that the clock hits zero. Everybody’s celebrating. There goes Tank Bigby running into the tunnel. I was like, “Oh, wait a minute. I mean, you’re celebrating, right?” You won. And it was almost like the personal lack of touches was more important than the win in a lot of ways.”
Lageman says that Tank Bigsby has too many holes in his game
Bigsby had a pretty good year in 2024 in a part-time role. He only started one game, but he still had 766 yards and seven touchdowns on the season.
So, it seemed a bit odd that the Jaguars would move on from him so quickly considering the new regime doesn’t love Etienne and Bhayshul Tuten is a rookie. But, Lageman noted that Bigsby doesn’t catch particularly well and he likes to put the ball on the carpet.
“Look, I’m just guessing here, but that’s the look in the appearance that it had,” Lageman coninued. “And look, I think he’s a great runner. I do. The one issue that you can say about him is that he’s not a great receiver. He fumbles the ball every 30 touches. That’s a fact. You can’t argue that, and that’s a problem for a running back, so for the Jaguars to get something for him. Because, again, I’m going to say this. I think the best running back they have is Bhayshul Tuten.”
Tank Bigsby was expendable in a crowded Jaguars backfield
Tuten was a fourth-round pick of the Jaguars in April’s NFL Draft out of Virginia Tech. He’s an extremely talented runner, but Lageman says that while he has issues, he made Bigsby expendable.
“I really believe that he does things that is special,” Lageman said. “And now he’s had some fumbling issues at Virginia Tech, but he hasn’t shown any of that yet. And so how are you going to divvy the touches between four guys? I don’t know, but having a lot of talent at one position is not a bad thing to have, and they took the opportunity to turn it into draft picks.”
Yes, Bigsby was a third-round pick of the Jags in 2023, but that was under a previous regime. The new era of general manager James Gladstone and head coach Liam Coen hasn’t shown any real interest in any of the running backs that they inherited. They want to put their fingerprint on this roster and obviously Bigsby wasn’t a part of that.