Titans running back Tyjae Spears will miss the first 4 games of the NFL season as he is being placed on IR.
The Titans backfield is taking shape, but not in the way the team hoped for. Third year back, Tyjae Spears is being placed on injured reserve as he still hasn’t recovered from a high ankle sprain.
Fantasy gamers have been hopeful of an ascendance for Spears as he finished the 2025 season with 3 top-12 weeks in fantasy football. While much was made in the offseason about Spears expanding his opportunity share in 2025, Tony Pollard has always been the favorite of the coaching staff.
Tony Pollard is a locked in RB-1 who goes at the end of round 6 on Underdog. Spears can currently be had in late round 14 and has fallen 2 rounds in the last week. Expect Pollard’s ADP to climb into round 5 while Spears becomes an early IR stash in redraft leagues.
Author: Jeremiah Retzlaff (@coachretzlaff1)
Tennessee Titans running back Tony Pollard's (neck) Week 9 ...
Updating a previous report, Tennessee Titans running back ...
Tennessee Titans running back Tony Pollard has struggled to...
Tennessee Titans running back Tyjae Spears will miss a few weeks due to a high ankle sprain.
Every season there are some high ranking handcuff running backs who provide upside at cost. Currently, Titans running back Tyjae Spears presents as one of those values at the 10-11 turn on Underdog. The issue is that Spears has now come down with a high ankle sprain.
This puts a damper on the hype that had been building. Titans coaches have been talking about getting Spears more opportunity share in the Titans backfield. With this injury, it will be tough to find out how serious the Titans staff is about increasing his workload.
Tony Pollard becomes a must click in round 7 on Underdog. Expect a Spears dip in ADP. For best ball drafts, Spears is a safer click due to not having to determine when to start him. For redraft leagues, Spears becomes someone who will likely start the season in the ‘IR’ slot for each respective format. Draft Tony Pollard with utmost confidence as he becomes an excellent zero-RB back to build around.
Author: Jeremiah Retzlaff (@coachretzlaff1)
After a strong finish to 2024, Titans head coach Brian Callahan envisions more playing time for running back Tyjae Spears.
Every offseason, fantasy gamers look for small nuggets for edges in drafts. One source of potential profit is mining value for backup running backs. To that end, Titans head coach Brian Callahan recently spoke to a more even workload for running backs Tony Pollard and Tyjae Spears.
Currently on Underdog, Tony Pollard is being drafted in round 7 while Tyjae Spears is being drafted in round 11. This 4 round difference is something that could pay off tremendously should Spears get a more even workload or get the job should Tony Pollard miss time.
A reason for optimism includes Tyjae Spears finishing as the RB3, RB10, and RB12 from weeks 15-17. A reason for pessimism is that Pollard had 260 carries in 2024 to Tyjae Spears’ 84 rush attempts. Pollard was 9th in weighted opportunities while Spears was 44th.
Every type of hype sounds good in July. Drafting an even split of both Pollard and Spears is best practice for risk aversion, however when the play is live, coaches tend to revert to past practices. Until shown otherwise, expect Tony Pollard to get deference as the lead back in the Titans offense.
Author: Jeremiah Retzlaff (@coachretzlaff1)
Tennessee Titans Head Coach Brian Callahan is concerned that Pollard carried the ball too many times last year, noting his preference for a more even split between him, Tyjae Spears, and a third back.
Tony Pollard had a career high 260 carries in 2024, good for 1079 rushing yards. He also caught 41 passes for 238 yards and chipped in for a total of 5 touchdowns on the season. Pollard’s efficiency took a big hit with only 4.2 yards per carry, down from his best overall season of 2022 where he took 193 carries for 1007 yards, caught 39 passes for 371 receiving yards and landed 12 TD’s while splitting a backfield with Ezekiel Elliott in Dallas.
Pollard has not really shined in a featured role, unable to get back into an RB1 finish since that 2022 season. While you never like hearing about football players getting fewer opportunities, the reduced workload that Brian Callahan desires might just do the trick though. The Titans offense should be better going forward by moving away from Will Levis and embracing the Cam Ward era, but its always going to be a dice roll with a rookie Quarterback – especially since the Titans offense isn’t exactly loaded with weapons. Tajae Spears was the named beneficiary in Callahan’s backfield vision, with one of Kalel Mullings or Julius Chestnut standing to gain more work. Both backs are much bigger and much slower than the 2 starters, but should offer a different look in short yardage and possibly goal line situations. With all the uncertainty, Tony Pollard is likely a stay away in all formats.
Author: Lukasz Stec (@Lukasz_FF01)
Things to watch in Week 11 for Tennessee’s week 11 matchup vs the Minnesota Vikings
The Titans are now 2-7 after a road loss to the Los Angeles Chargers (6-3). Last week, the Titans managed just 289 yards against a stiff Chargers defense despite earning 19 first downs and Will Levis not turning the ball over for the first full game in 2024. The run game was effective but seldom used, garnering only 21 carries and averaging 6.3 yards per carry. Levis, Pollard, Tyjae all went over 40 yards and averaged 4.5 yards per carry. On a less than positive note the offensive line surrendered 7 sacks, and that will be a focal point coming into this week vs a Vikings defense that has 30 sacks in 9 games. In the passing game, Levis was ale to keep the hot streak alive for Ridley, targeting him 9 times and connecting for 5 catches 84 yards and 2 TDs.
On defense, the Titans were not able to sack Justin Herbert on any of his 24 dropbacks, despite registering 9 pressures on the day and narrowly missing a strip sack fumble by Big Jeff (Jeffery Simmons) that was later ruled an incompletion. Herbert was able to complete 14 passes for 164 yards and 2 TDs in one of his lower volume performances on the season. The Chargers controlled the line of scrimmage by committing to the run in a Greg Roman special, running for 145 yards on 39 carries. No ball carrier surpassed 55 yards and they were not effective on a per carry basis but they ESTABLISHED it, and won. Jack Gibbens led the team in tackles recording 15 and playing all 59 snaps on the day.
It was a winnable game, but the Chargers controlled the line of scrimmage and shortened the game, methodically inching their way to victory by keeping Will Levis out of rhythm and running the ball to minimize their risks.
Sunday’s Keys To Victory.
Fantasy Players to Watch
Titans HC: “There is no backup. Both guys are starters”
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.
