The Tennessee Titans are sticking with Tony Pollard as their lead back, and Pro Football Focus just gave that decision a middling grade.
PFF ranked Pollard 21st among the NFL’s 32 starting running backs, a spot that may leave some Titans fans wanting more. Jaylen Warren, Omarion Hampton and Chase Brown all landed ahead of him on the list.
That ranking comes as Tennessee heads into another season with Pollard and Tyjae Spears forming the backfield tandem. The Titans were connected to Jeremiyah Love during the pre-draft process, but Love went No. 3 overall, and it felt like Tennessee was leaning toward Carnell Tate with the fourth pick anyway. The team also passed on veteran running backs in free agency before taking Nicholas Singleton out of Penn State on Day Three.
For Pollard, the bigger picture is still about volume and reliability. He’s trying to stack a fifth straight 1,000-yard rushing season in 2026, a run of production matched only by Derrick Henry among NFL running backs over the last half-decade.
PFF’s Dalton Wasserman and Max Chadwick pointed to that durability while explaining the ranking: “ Pollard has been a bell-cow back in each of the last few seasons and has now crossed 1,000 rushing yards in four consecutive years,” Dalton Wasserman and Max Chadwick wrote. “ While his 1,082 rushing yards in 2025 represented a career high, it was also accompanied by a career-low 70.5 PFF rushing grade.
That’s mainly due to Pollard forcing a missed tackle on just 16% of his carries, which was 36th in the NFL. Still, he’s a player who can handle a heavy workload for an offense, which is useful for the Titans as they continue to let quarterback Cam Ward get his feet we t.”
That lines up with the tape from last season. Pollard wasn’t especially dynamic at creating extra yards on his own, and he largely took what was there. The Titans will be hoping for a better marriage between Pollard and the offensive line in 2026.
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Titans Suddenly Have A Familiar Veteran In Real Roster Danger
The Titans running back room is one of the more interesting camp battles on the roster, with Tony Pollard and Tyjae Spears set at the top while the back end sorts itself out. Tennessee also has recent draft pick Nicholas Singleton in the mix, and while he is expected to make the 53-man roster, his exact role is still very much up for grabs as the staff sorts through the depth chart behind the top two.
Michael Carter and Kalel Mullings are pushing for those backup jobs, and the decision gets even trickier if the Titans lean toward keeping only a small group at the position. Spears injury history adds another layer to the discussion, because it can change how much insurance Tennessee wants to carry. That leaves one familiar veteran in a real fight to stay in the picture as camp moves along. [Read more 🡒]
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Carnell Tate arrived with the No. 4 overall pick, and WanDale Robinson was brought in during free agency, giving the Titans a pair of fresh options who should change the look of the offense. After an uneven first year, Ward now has the kind of support that can turn optimism into something more meaningful in 2026, and this is the sort of setup that usually tells you a quarterback is about to get a real shot to show what he can do. [Read more 🡒]
AJ Brown Just Became A Painful Reminder For Titans Fans
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For Tennessee, the frustration is less about the destination than the reminder. Brown has long been the kind of receiver who can tilt an offense, and the expectation now is that he will do exactly that in New England while helping open things up for Drake Maye and the Patriots passing game. For Titans fans, it is another chance to picture what might have been, with the conversation around his next season only making the old one feel a little harder to shake. [Read more 🡒]