One of the more intriguing training camp battles taking place for the Jacksonville Jaguars is at the running back position. Specifically, how the playing time amongst those backs will end up shaking out.
While we are only three training camp practices into this, perhaps a favorite for that RB1 role has already emerged.
Following Friday’s practice, John Shipley of Jaguars on SI would write in this training camp recap article that it was the “Tank Bigsby show.” Travis Holmes of Big Cat Country would make the same observation in his practice recap, saying that Bigsby took “the majority of the backfield reps.”
I don’t think this comes as a huge surprise to anyone. Bigsby led the team in carries and rushing yards last season.
Among all running backs, Bigsby’s 4.6 yards per carry ranked 13th, and he was 13th in missed tackles forced, along with being 11th in PFF’s breakaway rate, which measures how often a back had a rush of 15 or more yards.
With Bigsby’s ability to shed tackles and generate explosive runs, a new metric that evaluates running back play–Chris Trapasso’s ATEX score–says that Bigsby could be in store for a big season.
Looking at how the Tampa Bay offense operated last season under Liam Coen, the top two backs on the Jaguars’ depth chart will see their share of opportunities.
Success on the ground is a must in this system. For one, it keeps the offense ahead of the sticks and out of predictable passing situations. But in addition to that, the run game and passing game concepts go hand-in-hand in Coen’s scheme, building off each other as the game–and even weeks–progress.
This article originally appeared on Jaguars Wire: Has Jaguars top running back option already emerged in training camp?
Reporting by Paul Bretl, Jaguars Wire / Jaguars Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
