Shipley joins Bigsby on the shelf, and the Eagles' backfield is now Carson Steele and whoever else they can find

Tank Bigsby is on injured reserve. Will Shipley is out for weeks with a plantar fascia tear. Saquon Barkley remains sidelined. In roughly five days, Philadelphia's running back room went from thin to essentially nonexistent, and the depth chart now lists Carson Steele as the next man up behind whoever the Eagles can piece together.

What's left is a backfield that, a week ago, was already operating without its best player. Barkley carried this offense last season — 1,246 rushing yards, seven touchdowns — and his absence alone was enough to reshape how defenses approach the Eagles. Shipley was the bridge, the guy who was supposed to absorb carries and keep the run game credible while Barkley worked back. Now Shipley's gone too, and the names behind him on the depth chart are Jaydon Blue and Steele, neither of whom has carried a meaningful workload at this level.

The practical consequence is that Jalen Hurts becomes the Eagles' most reliable rusher by default. That's not a new role for him — he ran for 435 yards and eight touchdowns last season — but leaning on a quarterback's legs as a primary ground threat is a different thing than using it as a complement. It adds snaps, adds contact, adds risk to the one player Philadelphia cannot afford to lose.

My read: the Eagles need a body at running back, and they need one now. Whether that's a practice-squad elevation or something off the street, the current situation asks too much of Hurts and too little of a position group that has effectively ceased to exist.