Out of curiosity, why do you think that
  Linux got such traction and the BSDs didn't?

The AT&T lawsuit[1] against BSDi. Stymieing BSD in a well publicized lawsuit was enough to put a lot of people off from entertaining an x86 BSD (can't blame anyone for being prudent).

Right around the same time, one Mr. Linus Torvalds was making his own OS.

1 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UNIX_System_Laboratories,_Inc.....