Philadelphia’s backfield took another hit Monday when running back Tank Bigsby was reported to be undergoing core muscle surgery and headed for injured reserve.
NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport said the Eagles expect to place the 25-year-old on IR in the coming days, with the hope that he can return in about six weeks, or possibly sooner if the recovery goes well.
The procedure follows an abdominal issue that Bigsby aggravated late in Sunday’s loss to the Rams. He had already been limited by the injury earlier in the season, sitting out practice at points while the Eagles sorted their depth chart.
Against Los Angeles, he still carried a heavy share of the early-down work, finishing with 14 rushes for 55 yards after Saquon Barkley left with a hamstring injury on the game’s second series.
Will Shipley rotated in on a near-even snap count, but Bigsby remained the preferred option between the tackles until the core problem worsened.
Barkley’s status is still unresolved, which makes Bigsby’s absence more than a depth-chart footnote. Philadelphia now faces the prospect of opening the week without its lead back and the veteran who was signed to support him.
Shipley, who has yet to top 10 carries in an NFL game, becomes the most experienced healthy option on the active roster. Dameon Pierce and Jaydon Blue are on the practice squad and could be elevated if the club needs additional bodies.
Bigsby arrived in Philadelphia last year in a trade that sent 2026 fifth- and sixth-round picks to Jacksonville. The Jaguars had selected him in the third round of the 2023 draft out of Auburn, where his size and burst made him a complementary piece behind a featured runner.
Through four games this season, he had 91 yards on 28 carries, a 3.3-yard average, plus three receptions for 10 yards and a touchdown. The numbers are modest, but his role expanded whenever Barkley was unavailable, which is why his timeline matters beyond the next couple of weeks.
Core muscle surgery is a familiar procedure around the league, often tied to sports-hernia type damage in the lower abdomen and groin.
Clubs that place a player on injured reserve can designate him to return after a minimum stay, and Rapoport’s six-week window would put Bigsby in range of a midseason return if there are no setbacks.
Nothing is guaranteed until the operation is complete and the medical staff evaluates the repair.
For now the Eagles are left managing a thinned running game while they wait on both Barkley and Bigsby.
How Nick Sirianni distributes carries in the interim will shape the offense until at least one of them is cleared.
