Jason Kelce blasts Eagles for not featuring potential game-changer more on offense

The inconsistent play of the Philadelphia Eagles' offense routinely generated headlines throughout the season as the defending Super Bowl champions claimed the NFC East division title with a record of 11-6. 

During a Thursday appearance on Philadelphia's SportsRadio 94WIP, Eagles legend and current ESPN NFL analyst Jason Kelce criticized head coach Nick Sirianni for not featuring backup running back Tank Bigsby more during the campaign. 

Jason Kelce is a big fan of Tank Bigsby

“I hope to see a pretty decent usage of Tank at this point," Kelce explained, per Cayden Steele of NJ Advance Media for NJ.com. "How many times does a guy have to flash to be like, 'Why are we not giving this guy more?' That’s the reality of it."

ESPN stats show that Bigsby led the Eagles for the regular season with 5.9 yards per carry. However, the 23-year-old tallied just 58 carries across 16 contests for the Eagles. In total, he rushed for 344 yards and two touchdowns to go along with three receptions for 32 yards over those games.

Feeding Tank Bigsby could keep Saquon Barkley fresh

The StatMuse website shows that Eagles running back Saquon Barkley led the NFL for the 2024 regular season with 2,283 total yards from scrimmage en route to earning NFL Offensive Player of the Year Award honors. To compare, Barkley enters the upcoming postseason tournament ranked 15th in the league with 1,413 yards from scrimmage. 

Kelce believes that Sirianni should embrace a game plan that involves feeding both Bigsby and Barkley when the Eagles host the 12-5 San Francisco 49ers for a wild-card playoff showdown this coming Sunday afternoon. 

"It pairs up so well with what Saquon does," Kelce said about what Bigsby offers the Philadelphia offense. "Saquon is so good at reading the zone plays, hitting them front side and hitting them back side. Tank isn’t reading anything, I’m convinced. I think he just gets the ball and, shoom right up there. When you’re a linebacker, unless you fill that hole now on a guy like that, he’s going to get four or five yards. You got to come down and fill your gap now, and then you go back to Saquon, and that guy gets used to that tempo." 

As of Friday morning, DraftKings Sportsbook had the Eagles as 5.5-point home favorites over the Niners. One wonders if Sirianni will follow Kelce's advice in an attempt to get the most out of an offense that often left much to be desired with its play this past fall.