It didn’t take Tank Bigsby long to distance himself as the true and needed Eagles backup to Saquon Barkley.

Howie Roseman has long established his reputation as the NFL’s most aggressive executive. The Philadelphia Eagles‘ general manager has proven that again this season. Since the beginning of August, he has executed six trades. One in particular caught our attention. One shuffled the deck at running back with an intriguing prospect with the most fitting of nicknames.

On September 9th, Philadelphia agreed to send the Jacksonville Jaguars a 2026 fifth and sixth-round draft choices to acquire Tank Bigsby. The move was understandable.

The game plan was understandable. The results of that game plan led some of us to ask specific questions. Bigsby was expected to handle kickoff duties upon arrival as an injury to Will Shipley knocked him out of the lineup in Weeks 2 and 3.

That decision proved to be the wrong one.

On more than one occasion, Bigsby’s return skills left much to be desired. He did a poor job of fielding the ball, often putting his team in less-than-favorable positions. 

He lost that job to A.J. Dillon, who was just as bad. The bottom seemingly fell out during a nationally televised primetime game.

In Week 6, during a road game vs. the New York Giants, Dillon also struggled with muffs and fielding kickoffs. He averaged 12.5 yards on two returns. He also lost a fumble on a running play.

Eventually, Xavier Gipson took over kickoff duties in place of both of them. Shipley has also repirsed that role, giving Philadelphia the best duo they’ve had to return kicks all season.

Tank Bigsby has clearly supplanted A.J. Dillon as the Eagles’ backup to Saquon Barkley.

Dillon had been with Philadelphia since the middle of March. In Week 7, ‘Quadzilla’ was a healthy scratch, making Bigsby, Saquon Barkley, and Will Shipley Philadelphia’s three available running backs. Bigsby notched 11 yards on his only carry.

Week 8 came, and his role was expanded. Dillon was active but didn’t receive a single offensive snap or a single carry. The same Giants team that had annihilated the Eagles two weeks earlier was treated to a thorough beating.

The Philadelphia Eagles were exceptional. Revenge was sweet. Philadelphia won by a 38-20 score, and the Bigsby-Barkley team was fun to watch (and hard to tackle). They also etched their names in the Eagles’ history book.

Barkley and Bigsby became the first Eagles duo since 2013 to both exceed 100 yards rushing. What we saw was what we expected to see from the Saquon Barkley and A.J. Dillon tandem, but it appears that Barkley and Bigsby are the better duo.

So, with that, unless something unexpected happens, A.J. Dillon may have played his final snaps as an Eagle. Bigsby is younger, almost three full years younger. He’s less expensive, and he’s under contract through next season.

Bigsby counts as $1.1 million against the cap in 2025 and as $1.4 million against the cap in 2026. That isn’t a significant financial difference, but the eyeball tests solve everything. Tank Bigsby should be this team’s RB2 moving forward.

A.J. Dillon is playing on a one-year deal worth $1.2 million, which isn’t a big difference. Things certainly shift if someone gets hurt. Naturally, that changes everything, but if we were to place wagers, it seems very apparent that it will be hard for Dillon to see snaps again in the Midnight or Kelly Green during the regular season.