A new era is underway in Nashville, TN. The offseason departure of Mike Vrabel as head coach and the hire of former Bengals offensive coordinator Brian Callahan to replace him, along with the departure of Derrick Henry left many questions to be answered in the backfield.  The Titans brought in former Cowboy and Memphis, TN native Tony Pollard, but he is coming off of career low in terms of efficiency despite being in the highest scoring offense in the NFL last year.  Returning is second year back Tyjae Spears, who proved to be more than capable of handling change of pace duties when called upon. When asked questions about backfield usage, who is going to be the lead back and backup, and Brian Callahan is not ready to divulge any information regarding his plans for Pollard or  the second year Spears just yet.  It remains one of the most popular and most speculative mysteries for the 2024 season.  When faced with this question, Callahan’s reply was:  “They are both going to play quite a bit of football for us, and I don’t view either one of them as a starter or a back-up. They are both starting players to me.”

For fantasy purposes the ambiguity is maddening because a 50/50 timeshare would make them less than ideal rb2 candidates in lineup leagues and more flex worthy.  If the stance by Titans coaching holds, we will likely have to rely on context clues like depth charts and watch closely during the preseason in order to make an educated guess.  Pollard and Spears are currently very close in average draft position in bestball, with Pollard at rb29 and Spears at rb34.  Their outlook will remain muddied unless one back is able to separate from the other in this competition. Per touch efficiency goes to the younger Spears, but Pollard has put together a top 12 season in limited work in spite of the his lack of efficiency going into his age 27 season.