It is the beginning of the Cam Ward era for the Tennessee Titans, but a lot of his early success is going to depend on his supporting cast.
There has been plenty of conversation around the offensive line and wide receiver, but the consensus is that the running backs are in pretty good shape.
Tony Pollard was a nice addition last offseason. He was the most consistent player on the offense in 2024. Pollard possesses a nice blend of burst, vision, and power, and those traits helped him put up a career-high 1,079 rushing yards last season.
Behind him on the depth chart is Tyjae Spears, who is having a very similar career arc to Pollard throughout the early portion of his NFL career. Both players started as backups, but showed flashes of explosive traits that eventually earned them additional playing time.
It seemed like the plan for the backfield heading into 2024 was going to be an even split between the two backs last year. Unfortunately, Spears fell behind Pollard during training camp, and some minor injuries prevented him from creating any momentum throughout the season. Pollard was a workhorse.
Together, the duo combine to be one of the better one-two punches at the position, but running backs rarely have long shelf lives.
Pollard will be 29 next season, and the Titans can open up $7.25 million in cap space by releasing him next offseason. Looking at how the Kansas City Chiefs treated the running back position during Mike Borgonzi's tenure, that option might become appealing to this new regime after they inherited him and his contract. That money could be very useful for a team set for another massive overhaul after the season.
Brian Callahan might support this idea as well. Remember, in the predraft press conference, he was asked if there is room for a rotation of three running backs on an offense, and he said,
"Yeah, I think you have to have three good backs nowadays. You know it's it's a violent position. Those guys take a lot of hits. They take a good uh pretty good beating on a week-to-week basis and so you're trying to stay as fresh as possible for as long as possible there is guys that can carry the load and do that on their own and there's some good ones out there but you know I think there's also some a place for for a division of labor and um shared workloads and it keeps guys fresher longer.
"So yeah there's definitely room for three backs. You can find all kinds of ways to use those those players. I thought both Tony and Taj had had really pretty good seasons from top to bottom. We're looking for more I think at the end of the day but um there's a style of runner that you'd love to add but I think just having another good third back and uh the special teams role for the third back as well I thought Julius Chestnut did some nice things in in in a limited sample size but we're looking to keep adding competition and keep adding players to that room and hopefully we can find the three best ones come September."
If your plan is to split the carries three ways on offense, it's tough to justify giving your lead back a sizable contract.
A big year for Spears could help push Pollard out, but the onus is on the third-year back to remain consistently healthy and productive. The Titans will eventually create a younger, cheaper, fresher running back room while opening up money to spend on more valuable positions that need more help, like EDGE and receiver.