The Tennessee Titans are one of the few lucky teams in the NFL who could trot out either of their top running backs — Tony Pollard or Tyjae Spears — and have one of the better running backs in the NFL. However, Pollard shined in Week 1 as the lead back the loss to the Chicago Bears. His usage has fantasy football managers curious if Spears is within striking distance of the starting job.
Let’s break down the Titans backfield and see who can lead the way in Week 2 against the New York Jets.
Should You Start Tony Pollard or Tyjae Spears This Week?
In the Pro Football Network Start/Sit Optimizer and our Consensus Rankings say that Pollard is the player to start. His 10.4 fantasy points are higher than Spears’ projected 8.8 fantasy points. We agree as we lean into the hot-hand approach. With running backs, the hot hand will gain not only his coach’s trust but also some steam in our rankings as you watch him elevate his game.
As long as Pollard receives the bulk of the load, our hopes for Spears rely on him being hyper-efficient. You should generally take the volume over efficiency at the position, and there isn’t much reason to think the share of carries will change much for Sunday.
With Tennessee facing New York, we can expect Pollard to see a significant number of carries. The Jets allowed the third-most attempts last season, and this season didn’t start any better, as Jordan Mason tore apart their rushing defense.
Expect more of the same from Pollard as the Titans protect the inaccurate Will Levis from the Jets secondary.
Tony Pollard Fantasy Outlook This Week
Pollard generated 82 rushing yards in Week 1 while averaging more than five yards per rush. That total helped land him the 13th-most rushing yards of the opening week.
Pollard also showed signs of his explosiveness, which we remember from a few years ago before the injury lower-leg injury. He broke off a 26-yard run that was the fifth-longest for running backs last week.
He didn’t take the easy route to success, either, seeing a mere 0.68 yards before contact per rush against the Chicago Bears. However, he turned lemons into lemonade — his yards after contact per rush was the fourth-highest at 4.44 yards per attempt after contact, according to Trumedia.
There aren’t many running backs who could pull those numbers off consistently. Those stats show that Pollard could be fully healthy and primed for a bounce-back season.
Tyjae Spears Fantasy Outlook This Week
Spears was also efficient in his limited usage, posting four rushes for 21 yards (5.25 per attempt).
The issue for Spears’ game was his lack of involvement in the passing game, which couldn’t compensate for so few carries.
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He only saw four targets (and catches) while running 20 routes. He generated 11 yards and provided very little to the aerial attack and fantasy lineups.
Spears was meant to create havoc for his managers by racking up PPR points. Subsequently, we are concerned with the future of this backup running back.
Kyle Soppe’s Week 2 Fantasy Outlook for Pollard and Spears
Tony Pollard: This preseason, you fell into one of two buckets, and it almost entirely depends on how much Pollard exposure you had last season.
- Pollard was limping his way through the season
- Pollard is destined to be a part-time back
One week into his Titans career, those who gambled on Pollard are happy. Last week, he touched the ball 19 times for 94 yards and a score against a good Bears defense. He was given the first crack to lead this backfield (he had seven of eight carries in the first quarter and Treylon Burks had the other) and rewarded the coaching staff with an early score.
For the game, he was on the field for 62.3% of offensive snaps, a rate that moved up to 76.9% when just evaluating first downs. It seems clear that the Titans like Tyjae Spears in a complementary role. This gives Pollard RB2 potential if he can continue to be efficient. He falls just outside of that range in this tough matchup, but he’s the running back in this backfield that carries meaningful upside.
Tyjae Spears: Am I getting Jaylen Warren vibes from Spears? We want him to be given more work, but the Titans are actively clipping his wings for our purposes. He had just eight touches last week and was pigeon-holed – he played 92.9% of third-down snaps (Pollard: 14.3%), but that was essentially his entire role.
He remains very rosterable because the skill is evident and he’s only an injury away from 16-18 touches. There is hope in Spears’ profile — hope that is going to be sitting on your bench until we have a reason to think that Tennessee wants to unleash him.