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The DiCecco Daily: What's Next For Eagles Run Game With Tank Bigsby On Injured Reserve, Saquon Barkley Banged Up? · Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Hey, what's going on, everybody?
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: Welcome into another episode of DiCecco Daily. It's Andrew DiCecco,
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: Eagles beat reporter for InsideTheBirds.com. And we do have a
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: little bit of injury news for the Eagles. There were
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: a number of players who got hurt in the 24-20 loss,
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: including notables like Saquon Barkley and Quinion Mitchell, Jonathan Grenard.
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: But officially, running back Tank Bigsby, he suffered an injury
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: late in the game that did not look good. Well,
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: he sustained a core muscle injury Sunday against the Rams
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: that will require surgery and land him on injured reserve.
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: And that's a tough blow for an Eagles team that
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: already has Saquon Barkley dealing with a hamstring injury. And
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: when Nick Sirianni spoke on Monday, he said, we'll see
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: in terms of whether or not he'll be available when the.
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: Eagles go to London tomorrow.
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: So that could leave the Eagles in a pretty dire
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: spot at the running back position. And if Saquon can't
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: make it back in time for Sunday, and remember, hamstring
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: injuries tend to be a little bit fickle. You don't
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: want to fool around with the soft tissue injuries. Sometimes
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: they tend to linger, as evidenced by Devontae Smith, most notably.
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: Then you had Makai Lemon, who had it in the spring,
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: and then it lingered into training camp. Those are two
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: recent examples. But taking all that into account, that would
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: put Will Shipley as the Eagles' top running back going
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: into that game with the Jacksonville Jaguars. Now, we'll wait
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: and see what the injury report looks like this week
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: in practice.
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: And all that.
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: There's different levels to hamstring injuries, and so you can
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: never definitively say that Saquon won't be available.
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: You never know. But let's just.
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: let's just assume that that's something that does take a
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: little bit of time to heal. Well, that would put
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: Will Shipley into the top running back spot. And Will
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: is someone who has been the number three running back
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: for the Eagles since he was drafted in 2024. I
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: think he brings some quality traits to the forefront, including
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: pass protection, pass catching upside. Now, Is he as explosive
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: of a runner as Saquon and Tank? No, I wouldn't
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: say that, but he does have juice, and I know
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: that it's been tough sledding for him when he's gotten
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: his opportunities this year in the running game, but I
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: would say that that applies to all three of the
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: running backs, Saquon and Tank included, though Tank had a
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: nice run on Sunday against the Rams, but you could
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: tell when he got hurt, And he was in the
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: medical tent for an awfully long amount of time that
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: it wasn't good. And, you know, he left the field
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: with a few minutes left in the game. That's tough. And,
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: you know, it's a tough blow for the Eagles. But
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: you got to think about the player here and Tank.
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: had an opportunity to play against his former team in
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: the Jaguars this weekend. And he's such a fun player
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: to watch and a really good dude. So any injury
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: news is unfortunate. That's the worst part of sports. And
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: the Eagles are going to be operating on a timeline
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: that won't include Tank Bigsby in the interim here.
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: And according to ESPN.
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: And NFL Networks in Rappaport, That injury, he's expected, or
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: there's hopes, that he'll be back in six weeks or shorter.
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: So anyway, that leaves the Eagles really thin at the
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: running back position. Will doesn't have a ton of experience,
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: doesn't have a ton of carries. He has been incorporated
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: into the offense, been a situational player, a third down player.
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: Running back. He seems to be their preference there.
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: I think that he is the Eagles' best pass protection,
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: or I guess best Eagles running back when it comes
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: to pass protection. He's also their best receiver, but Make
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: no mistake about it. You're not a better football.
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: Team when you're down those players.
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: And I think that Will does have more to offer
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: than what he's really shown. And he's going to get
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: his opportunity, whether or not Saquon plays or not. You
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: saw how involved Tank has been over the first few
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: weeks and really four weeks.
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: So he's going to have a larger role in some capacity.
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: And so I.
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: Just I get a sense that there might be a
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: little angst when it comes to Will, whenever he gets
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: his opportunities, I'm not exactly sure why. He might not
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: be a home run hitter, but he's shifty. He's highly intelligent.
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: Saquon Barkley last summer called him the smartest back in
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: the room, and it's really evident when you watch him
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: out there. He brings a lot of intensity, brings a
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: lot of knowledge and high-level football intelligence, and it's going
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: to be up to the offensive line to block it up.
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: a little bit better than they have because regardless of
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: who's been back there, they haven't been able to capitalize
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: with the Eagles running backs. And I went into this
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: season really bullish on the Eagles running back room in general.
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: Aside from Saquon Barkley, I have been very high on
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: Tank Bigsby. He had a good training camp, but I
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: really liked the player coming out of Auburn. He is
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: a little unorthodox in his approach, but he just brings
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: so much energy when he gets the ball and you,
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: have a level, sort of an element of unpredictability whenever
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: he gets it, but he has home run hitting ability.
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: And so to not have that is certainly a big
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: blow to the offense.
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: But behind Will, there's not a lot. I mean, well,
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: there's no.
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: One on the active roster, but they do have three
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: running backs on the practice squad. They have Jadon Blue,
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: they have Damian Pierce, and they also have Carson Steele.
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: Going back to the preseason, Carson Steele, someone who caught
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: the football pretty well, didn't rep a ton in training camp,
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: but when he did, he ran really hard. I like
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: his build, and he's more of a downhill runner. He's
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: going to make defenders pay. He did have some opportunities
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: with the Kansas City Chiefs in 2024, where he made
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: the team as an undrafted free agent, and he carried
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: the ball a handful.
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: Amount of times, and He's an option.
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: Jaden Blue was a draft pick of the Cowboys just
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: last year. Smaller, but he's very quick. I think he's
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: more of a shiftier type of player that could be
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: more utilized as a specialist, maybe situationally. Get him in
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: space a little bit. He can catch the football. But
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: the player that I'm most intrigued with of the players
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: on the practice squad is Damian Pierce.
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: And so.
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: Damian Pierce is someone who was a draft pick of
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: the Houston Texans a number of years ago. At one
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: point in time, it looked like Damian Pierce was one
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: of the better young running backs in football. He ran
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: just shy of 1,000 yards as a rookie. Gave the
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: Eagles some trouble in the 2022 matchup, I believe. He's
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: sort of a bigger-bodied running back. He got hurt in
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: training camp. He could have made things interesting potentially, maybe
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: forced an Eagles hand to keep four because he also
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: doubles as a kick returner. But I think that injuries
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: have plagued him a little bit and maybe some ball
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: security issues. And I think if you're taking all that
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: into account, they may need to bring two running backs
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: into the fold this week just to be able to
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: fill out the depth chart. And so to me, it
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: seems like Damian Pierce would be a logical choice for
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: one of them.
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: And then it could depend on what you value personally.
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: Between Jadon Blue and Carson Steele, who can help you
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: on special teams. In theory, Carson Steele should be a
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: player that could step in there and run down the
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: field and make some big plays and kick coverage and
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: maybe even in punk coverage as well.
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: He can block a little bit. He brings some physicality there.
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: And I should also mention that Carson Steele and Damian
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: Pierce were with the Eagles last For the entirety of
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: the offseason. So there's something to be said for that.
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: They have more familiarity with the playbook. And they both.
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: Both bring somewhat of a different skill set. To the table.
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: But Jadon Blue is probably the most. Unique of those three.
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: Because of his. I guess his stature. His build. The athleticism.
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: And the lightning quickness. That he brings. Although I don't
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: view him as a.
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: As a. a running back who can handle volume per se,
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: but I do think he could be a really effective
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: change up, give you some good speed. He does have
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: home run hitting long speed there. He can catch the football,
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: but it all depends on what the Eagles are looking for.
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  Speaker 2: But I think the one player who does make sense,
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: who does have a lot of NFL experience, is Damian Pierce.
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: And so you only have two elevations on the practice squad.
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: If Zach Ertz is not signed to the 53, he
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: still gets one more elevation.
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: He would be one of them. One of these players
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: is going to have to be signed to the 53
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: this week. So you might see.
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: Some maneuvering as they have to try to scramble to
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: atone for some of these injuries in some cases. But
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: the Eagles running back room, is going to have a
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: little bit of a different look in the short term.
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: But as Rappaport added to his report, the hope is
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: that Tank gets back around six weeks. So we'll just
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: have to wait and see on that. It probably hasn't
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: gone the way that Tank wanted it. I know he
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: had a really good training camp. He'd get into the
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: regular season. Running room's hard to come by. And I
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: think he's at his best when he can improvise and
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: really shoot the gap, find the hole, and create. He's
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: a self-creator a lot of times. And it hasn't really
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: been there, and that's been for all the running backs,
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: as I mentioned. But he also had a bad fumble
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: against the Chicago Bears, limiting him to two snaps, presumably. Shipley,
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: I think, played 13 in that game. But he rebounded
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: in a nice game against the Rams when the running
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: room was pretty difficult to come by. I thought he
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: made the most of his opportunities there. And then when
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: he sustained that injury late in the game, I mean,
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: it looked painful. It looked like he was really going
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: through it. And as I mentioned, he was in the
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: medical tent for quite some time and then left the field.
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: Never a good thing.
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: Injuries are the worst part of sports, as I said,
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: and You hate to see it, but this is the
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: sort of state of the Eagles running back room right now.
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: We'll have to wait and see what we learn this
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: week regarding Quinion Mitchell, who sustained a knee injury in
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: the 24 to 20 loss to the Rams. There's Jonathan Grenard,
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: who I believe, according to a report, it wasn't considered
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: to be.
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: I want to hold on.
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: It wasn't considered to be a serious injury, and it
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: seems like the Eagles really... So Ann Rappaport said, Eagles
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: edge Jonathan Grenard, who exited Sunday's game early with an
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: ankle injury, is considered day-to-day, sources say, not a major injury.
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: So that's from Ann Rappaport of ESPN and NFL Network
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: with that report on Jonathan Grenard earlier on Monday. So
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: they got good news there. Not good news with Tank Bigsby.
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: We'll have to wait and see what the... immediate future
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: holds for Saquon Barkley and Quinion Mitchell. I'm really curious
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: to see what the injury report looks like after Wednesday's
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: practice to get a little bit more clarity into, you know,
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: some of these timelines because the Eagles are staying in
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: Philadelphia for the, for the full week of practice and
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: they are flying to London and, Friday, after their workday
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: has concluded. And then there'll be the walkthrough Saturday and
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: then the game on Sunday. So this is going to
• 16:22
  Speaker 2: be a really fast and furious week. That's no different
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: than any other week when you cover the Philadelphia Eagles.
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: And a lot of news, a lot of stuff to
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: cover this week. So make sure that you're staying plugged
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: in to Inside the Birds, everything that we have to offer.
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: And of course, The Checko Daily, as.
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: I bring you the day-to-day information to keep you as
• 16:46
  Speaker 2: close as possible to the Eagles. That's going to do
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: it for this episode of The Checko Daily. I'm Andrew DiCecco,
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: and I'll catch you all on the next one.