Fantasy Football Impact: Saquon Barkley's Injury Could Open The Door For Tank Bigsby To Emerge

Star running back Saquon Barkley exited the Philadelphia Eagles' Week 2 matchup against the Tennessee Titans due to a stinger. A stinger is a pinched nerve in the neck. While Barkley was able to return to the game with a neck roll, he did not play much at all. He finished the game playing just 12 snaps and carried the ball four times for nine yards with one 11-yard reception.

The injury is not expected to be serious, but Barkley is set to have an MRI today to be sure. We are still waiting for the results of the MRI. His return to the game, even if on a limited basis, is an encouraging sign. It is too soon to determine whether we expect him to play in Week 3 or not.

Saquon Barkley: I'm alright, we'll know more after an MRI. https://t.co/RfYlkMkOqi
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) September 20, 2026

Fantasy Impact

RB Saquon Barkley, Philadelphia Eagles

There isn't much to say about Barkley here. If Barkley is active next week, then you are starting him. This isn't the kind of injury that should impact him next week if he's active.

If the MRI does show something more serious, then there is no chance he's playing because it's a neck injury. We should get a pretty clear-cut answer fairly early in the week on this one, potentially as soon as today or tomorrow.

RB Tank Bigsby, Philadelphia Eagles

This is the running back we would be targeting on the waiver wire if Barkley is forced to miss any time. Despite seeing significantly fewer snaps at 34%, he carried the ball 13 times and saw two targets, compared to Will Shipley, who carried the ball just seven times and saw two targets of his own.

Bigsby finished the game rushing for 33 yards and a touchdown on 2.5 yards per carry and caught both his targets for just five yards. While it wasn't an overly impressive performance for Bigsby, the team did give him significantly more work and deployed him down near the end zone.

RB Will Shipley, Philadelphia Eagles

As we mentioned, Shipley was on the field a lot more than Bigsby, playing on 51% of the offensive snaps. However, they didn't give him the ball much. It seemed like they preferred him as a blocker, but weren't interested in actually handing him the ball.

He finished the game with seven carries for 24 yards at 3.4 yards per carry and caught both of his targets for five yards. Despite him playing more snaps and being more efficient, we still prefer Bigsby by a significant margin if Barkley misses time.

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