The Philadelphia Eagles are putting Tank Bigsby on injured reserve after his abdomen issue worsened in Week 4 and he was set for core muscle surgery. He is expected to return in six weeks or shorter, but that does not solve the immediate problem for a backfield that has already been thinned by injury.
The move matters now because Bigsby had become the No. 2 running back, and the Eagles could be down to one active runner if Saquon Barkley is also unavailable. Barkley left Sunday with a hamstring injury and may miss more games, which would leave Will Shipley as the only running back on the active roster heading into Week 5.
That is why searches around the Eagles depth chart are turning up today. The team may have to pull from its practice squad, where it has three running backs available in Dameon Pierce, Carson Steele and Jaydon Blue. Carson Steele could be elevated temporarily, while Dameon Pierce flashed in training camp and preseason when he was not dealing with injury issues of his own. Jaydon Blue joined the team in September, giving Philadelphia another option if the roster needs a quick patch.
There is still a useful distinction in Bigsby's timeline: six weeks or shorter is a recovery window, not a guarantee that the Eagles will have enough bodies before then. That is the friction here. Bigsby may not be gone for long, but the team needs help much sooner if Barkley misses additional time, and the next step is not a return date but a roster decision before Week 5.
The Eagles depth chart is therefore being forced into a short-term test. If both top backs are out against the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 5, the answer will not come from waiting on surgery recovery. It will come from whether the Eagles choose to elevate one of their practice squad backs, and that move could tell the clearest story about how thin the position has become.
