Has any backup running back impressed more during the first month of the season than 2023 third-round pick Tank Bigsby? Fantasy football managers outright dismissed him after a rookie season that underwhelmed across the board, but were we too quick?
Could Bigsby be the lead back for the Jacksonville Jaguars in short order and, thus, provide strong value when it matters most in your league?
Should Tank Bigsby Be Added Off the Fantasy Waiver Wire in Week 6?
All stats are from TruMedia unless otherwise stated.
Bigsby averaged just 2.6 yards per carry as a rookie out of Auburn, and while the industry was generally in on a bounce-back season from the Jags as a whole, the second-year back was an afterthought behind Travis Etienne Jr.. So much so, in fact, that after picking up 73 yards on 12 carries, there really wasn’t a ground swell to add him.
TANK BIGSBY STIFF ARMS HIS WAY TO A 65-YARD TD.
📺: #INDvsJAX on CBS/Paramount+
📱: https://t.co/waVpO8ZBqG pic.twitter.com/oVugPI0X5s— NFL (@NFL) October 6, 2024
As it turns out, that was a sharp move. Well, it was for the short term.
Bigsby touched the ball only twice over the next two weeks, with a special-teams injury limiting his usage. In those two contests, Etienne ran for 120 yards on 24 carries and caught seven passes.
Not elite production, but efficient and, as the incumbent, more than enough for us to scrub the strong Week 1 showing from his backup from our collective memory.
Week 4 against the Houston Texans saw Bigsby again involved, and he, again, made a splash play (58 yards). But again, there wasn’t a big movement to add him.
Through the month of September, the Jaguars were a winless team, and Bigsby hadn’t earned a single target. The big plays were viewed as more of a pain for Etienne managers than anything actionable.
But now? Now things have changed. Bigsby dismantled the Indianapolis Colts (13-101-2) to get Jacksonville its first win of the season, and he very much looked the part.
The 65-yard touchdown run was the most valuable of Bigsby’s plays, but his first score was the more impressive one — a 19-yarder that saw a dozen yards come after contact.
Some “yards after contact” stats can be misleading as not all contact is created equal. On this score, Bigsby looked like the bully on the playground who hit puberty a few years early. We haven’t seen Isiah Pacheco run the ball for a few weeks, but it sort of looked like that and proves that Bigsby’s role is here to stay, if not grow.
In total, Bigsby has 34 carries for 273 yards this season. It should go without saying that 8.0 yards per carry isn’t going to increase, but why can’t he carve out a role of 10-12 touches per week?
If Trevor Lawrence’s strong Week 5 showing proves to be the new expectation as opposed to an outlier, that sort of role in this offense is going to put Bigsby on Flex radars as we move toward Halloween.
I’m adding Bigsby in all formats, though he won’t be ranked as a Flex option for me in the short term. I’m still giving Etienne roughly a 60/40 edge in terms of touches, and Bigsby’s limitations in the passing game scare me for a team that projects to be playing from behind more often than not.
Jacksonville is in London for the next two games, drawing Chicago and New England while they are north of the pond. Those may not sound like the most intimidating of teams, and game script shouldn’t be an issue. However, it’s difficult to support two viable fantasy running backs against above-average run defenses in terms of success rate, something both the Bears and Patriots are.