Could Tony Pollard And Tyjae Spears Both Be Viable For Fantasy Football 2026?
Ian Hartitz breaks down the backfield for the Tennessee Titans, and whether both Tony Pollard and Tyjae Spears can be start-worthy in fantasy football.
For those of you fantasy football managers who like to go heavy on wide receiver in the early rounds and wait on running back, we present for you the Tennessee Titans' backfield. Tony Pollard came out of Ezekiel Elliott's shadow to post three seasons with over 1,000 scrimmage yards before coming to Nashville and adding a couple more. Tyjae Spears compiled 838 total yards in his rookie season, then followed it up with 75 receptions over the last two seasons in part-time duty. Can the Titans offense take enough of a step forward so that both RBs can be contributors in fantasy in 2026? Ian Hartitz breaks it down as part of his Tennessee Titans Team Preview.
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Are both Tony Pollard and Tyjae Spears great Zero-RB picks?
- RB1: Tony Pollard (RB31 in Fantasy Life ranks)
- RB2: Tyjae Spears (RB49)
- RB3: Nicholas Singleton (RB50)
- RB4: Michael Carter
Arguably! We'll start with Pollard, who joins Derrick Henry as the only running backs with 1,000+ rushing yards in each of the last four seasons. Of course, Pollard wasn't exactly clearing that mark with flying colors, and we haven't quite seen the same dynamic game-breaker since his unfortunate broken leg back in the 2022-23 playoffs.
Tony Pollard PPR points per game:
- 2022: 15.6 (RB8)
- 2023: 13.1 (RB23)
- 2024: 12.5 (RB22)
- 2025: 10.9 (RB30)
The 29-year-old veteran doesn't exactly have the same jets these days. Guys like Mark Andrews and J.K. Dobbins posted a faster top ballcarrier speed (Next-Gen Stats), and only Bucky Irving and Kareem Hunt posted a lower explosive rush rate. Pollard's end-of-season run was fun—he went 25-161-2, 14-104-1 and 21-102-0 on the ground in Weeks 14-16—but it's tough to find many stats these days that paint him as anything more than a dirt-average running back.
And then there's Tyjae Spears, who has flashed some serious tackle-breaking ability during his first three seasons in the league. Seriously: Nobody has avoided more tackles per touch (33.4%) during the past three seasons among 48 running backs with at least 300 touches! Sure, that stat is partially skewed by Spears not having the most volume, and a lot of it coming in the passing game, but there's still no doubt that the 25-year-old talent has some serious juice.
Now, it's questionable as to whether or not the Titans—particularly this new coaching staff—truly view Spears as someone who is capable of handling a traditional running back workload. After all, the 5-foot-9, 201-pounder (26th percentile BMI) isn't exactly a big human being, and he's missed nine games due to a mix of knee, ankle, hamstring and head injuries since entering the league back in 2023.
Fantasy Life Projections currently have Pollard fairly easily leading the way here:
Could rookie Nicholas Singleton turn this into a three-way committee and/or rise up in the pecking order? Anything is possible, but HC Robert Saleh's early quotes didn't sound too promising for the Penn State product:
"[Nick Singleton] is a big back, fast. He’s learning it all. He’s got a long way to go from that regard, like all rookies do. … But to be clear [Tony Pollard and Tyjae Spears] are the bell cows of this football team, and Nick's got to compete his way ... into that group."
Ultimately, I've been far more in on Spears (RB50, pick 160.5) than Pollard (RB30, pick 76.3) in early drafts. I get that Pollard is one of the cheaper starting backs available in fantasy land, but this seems like such a clear dead zone "ignore the meh talent and bad offense and just trust that volume" sort of pick. Just because someone like David Montgomery (RB20, 49.4) is more expensive and profiles similarly doesn't necessarily mean that Pollard is a good pick either.
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