After playing last season on the franchise tag, it appears the Dallas Cowboys are willing to let Tony Pollard walk. With his status as a feature back dependent on landing spot, where would fantasy football managers like to see Pollard play for the second half of his career?
Potential Landing Spots for Tony Pollard
Los Angeles Chargers Could Sign Pollard To Replace Austin Ekeler
It sounds as though Austin Ekeler will not return to the Los Angeles Chargers. Teams can thrive without a top running back. In fact, pretty much every Super Bowl winner of the past 15 years hasn’t paid up at running back. However, that’s not what Jim Harbaugh appears to want to do.
Harbaugh has always crafted his offenses around the run. Whether in San Francisco or Michigan, his offenses are near the bottom of the league in pass rate. It’s hard to do that when the running back is just a guy.
Pollard struggled last year as the lead back for the Dallas Cowboys. He was also recovering from a broken leg sustained in the 2022 season’s Divisional Round playoff game.
Entering the 2024 season much healthier, Pollard could be poised for a bounce back in an offense that should be able to score plenty with Justin Herbert and Keenan Allen leading the charge.
If Pollard signs with the Chargers, fantasy managers may want to give him a mulligan for a poor 2023 season and go back to the well on this potential fantasy RB1.
Pollard Could Be the Successor to Josh Jacobs in Las Vegas
The Las Vegas Raiders don’t necessarily need to sign a running back. Zamir White played quite well filling in for Josh Jacobs and certainly earned a chance to show what he can do over a full season as the lead running back. Nevertheless, Pollard might be too appealing for the Las Vegas Raiders to add to their offense.
It’s entirely possible Pollard isn’t even an upgrade over White. After all, he was unable to meet expectations while playing in an ideal situation in Dallas. But if Pollard does sign with the Raiders, he should see significant volume and be heavily involved in the passing game.
In fact, if Pollard wound up returning to his satellite back plus type role — the one he had while playing alongside Ezekiel Elliott — that may not be a bad thing for his fantasy value. Fantasy managers would gladly sacrifice some volume for the return of explosive plays.
Unfortunately, the Raiders still have significant steps to take before they are a potent offense. Most notably, they need a quarterback. That means Pollard going to the Raiders may result in a lot of empty volume, which does nothing for fantasy managers. This would not be a preferred landing spot for a Pollard revival.
Houston Could Bring in Pollard To Play With C.J. Stroud, Nico Collins, and Tank Dell
If there is a good time to sign an expensive running back, it’s when the rest of the offensive pieces are already in place. The Houston Texans could still add to their offensive line, but they’ve got the quarterback and top two receivers.
After thinking they had their answer at running back, Dameon Pierce played his way out of a job throughout the 2023 season. Devin Singletary replaced him and was quite effective, but he’s also an unrestricted free agent. If given the choice between paying Singletary to return or paying Pollard a little more, the Texans very well may opt for the latter.
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Singletary had moments of fantasy football brilliance last season. He was pretty good for a guy that was largely written off. Now, Pollard is the guy potentially being written off after his poor performance last year. Playing alongside a superstar QB with an already excellent passing game could be just what Pollard needs to return to the ranks of the RB1.
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