The Tennessee Titans are set to kick off the post-Derrick Henry era by reportedly signing former Dallas Cowboys running back Tony Pollard to a three-year deal worth $24 million dollars. But why did the Titans add Pollard specifically? And doesn't he look and play with a similar style to Tyjae Spears, who the Titans already have on the team?
Tony Pollard Versus Tyjae Spears Comparison
Yes. Tony Pollard and Tyjae Spears are basically clones of each other when you break down their games.
They both are sub-210 pound running backs with great elusiveness and explosion. Pollard and Spears force a missed tackle on more than 21% of their career carries. And they both see almost exactly 31% of their career rushing yardage come on explosive plays of over 15 yards.
They're also both great receiving running backs. Pollard and Spears each caught over 50 receptions last season. But that raw reception total isn't where the receiving comparison ends. They also both average around 1.2 yards per route run out of the backfield and drop less than 5% of their targets.
By the numbers, Spears and Pollard are almost exactly the same player on the field.
Why the move makes sense in the post Derrick Henry era
Derrick Henry is one of the best running backs to ever play the game. That much isn't up for debate. However, due to Henry's overall lack of involvement in the receiving game over the years, the Titans offensive tendencies were a bit easier to read than many teams across the league.
If Henry was in the game, the Titans were likely running the ball or hoping for a big pass off of play action. If Henry was out of the game that generally meant a passing play was coming. The Titans tried to improve on that predictability issue last year, giving Spears exactly 100 carries. But there were still clearly major stylistic differences that completely changed the offense depending on which running back was in the game.
Tony Pollard makes it to where the Titans have two of the exact same skill sets to run out of the back field on any given snap. It doesn't really matter which back ends up being the "lead" guy this way either. Opposing defenses will have absolutely no idea what type of play is coming regardless of who's on the field.
Salary Cap Implications
This deal does suggest that Tony Pollard is likely being signed to be the leader of the backfield, given that $8 million dollars is the new market rate for a good starting back in the league. Ian Rapoport and other NFL Network pundits break this down in the post below:
While there's no way that Pollard could ever replace Derrick Henry's ability one-to-one, paying your lead running back a deal that will certainly count less than $8 million against the cap each year is a much less significant cap burden.
The Titans should still have over $70 million dollars to play with under the salary cap for 2024 as they try to rebuild their roster coming off a difficult six-win 2023 season.
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