DRBR: Jacksonville Jaguars

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlN9OXwhyHI

I will admit — during his rookie season, I gave Tank Bigsby a lot of crap. He was nowhere near as good as Travis Etienne. And there were a lot of people out there that were like, "Oh, Travis Etienne is done. There's no way." And Travis Etienne was way better than what Tank Bigsby was during his rookie year.

And then we get into 2024, and it was clear from the beginning that Tank Bigsby was a different runner. He looked like a guy who had really been working to develop himself over the offseason — to not only be more physical but more agile — and be able to become a more explosive running back as a whole.

Travis Etienne dealt with injuries and some ineffectiveness, and for a majority of the year, Tank Bigsby was a better running back in 2024. So even though I used to give him a lot of crap, I will say this now: if the Jags don’t give Tank Bigsby a ton of touches in 2025, they’re idiots.

Bigsby’s biggest issue is he just needs to hold on to the football. Only Tyron Tracy had more fumbles last season among running backs with less than 200 touches. Tank Bigsby just needs to play it safe. Hold on to the football.

While the numbers in the DRBR look great — 80 in yards after contact, 95 in tackles avoided per attempt — if you can’t hang on to the football, that’s going to cause problems.

Now, Jacksonville did use a fourth-round draft pick on Bhayshul Tuten, a running back out of Virginia Tech. This is a guy that I do like. I think he can be a good NFL running back, but I don’t think that he's going to be a guy that's going to automatically unseat Tank Bigsby — as long as Bigsby holds on to the football.

Last season, Tank Bigsby averaged 3.74 yards after contact per attempt — second only to Bucky Irving. That was a huge number. And when it comes to avoided tackles, he was making everybody miss. In fact, he was right there along with some of the best, averaging 0.27 avoided tackles per attempt.

The only guys that were above him with 150 or more carries were Bucky Irving, James Conner, and Kenneth Walker. Bigsby was a DRBR monster last season. And if it weren't for having such low amounts of volume, he would have seen a way higher overall weighted score than what he currently has.

Heading into 2025, he’s got competition. Travis Etienne — the new coaching staff has been talking him up quite a bit. They think that he is a guy that can make an impact, and I agree with that. Bhayshul Tuten is going to be a guy that I also think could be very good, but I don’t think Tuten is going to come in and just be the guy right away. I think it’s going to take some time.

This is going to be a near 50/50 split — with Tank Bigsby being the primary running back, and Travis Etienne being a guy who receives a lot of the passing game work while also seeing a few touches here or there.

But if we can get Tank Bigsby David Montgomery-like touches — get him around that 200 to 230 range — he is going to be an easy top-24 running back candidate, and he may be one of the best draft decisions all season long.