Titans sign veteran RB D’Ernest Johnson

This is something of an annual drum beat from Titans camp. Spears suffered an ankle injury early last season that limited his reps. We’re sure if he can stay healthy, his overall share of the backfield snaps and touches will increase. But it’s hard to understand how he’d suddenly become the lead back in Tennessee without an injury to Tony Pollard.

Arvin writes that Tony Pollard is expected to remain the lead back, but he thinks a committee approach could be in order, with the additions of fifth-round pick Nicholas Singleton and the continued presence of Tyjae Spears. On June 11, Titans coach Robert Saleh referred to Pollard and Spears as “the bellcows of this football team,” and said Singleton will have to “compete his way” into the rotation. The Titans have had just three practices since Saleh’s remarks. Pollard remains the top back in Tennessee. Spears is penciled in on passing downs and might get the chance to play a small role on early downs as well. Singleton’s role is murky. It would be reasonable for the Titans to limit a fifth-round rookie to special teams only.

Both Pollard and Spears are entering contract years. Pollard, 29, has missed just one game over the past two seasons, while Spears, 24, has missed nine. Spears also entered the NFL with concerns regarding one of his knees, which has full thickness cartilage loss and is missing its ACL. Pollard has been far more productive than Spears, who acknowledges he needs to prove his consistency to the coaching staff, but Pollard’s age is working against him. Both players appear locked into the top-two spots on the depth chart, but Glennon thinks it’s “not a huge stretch to see” RB Nicholas Singleton becoming the team’s primary ball-carrier in 2027. Of course, we are a long way from having an answer to this. The Titans’ backfield developments in training camp are worth following, though.

Listing Pollard as a bellcow comes as no surprise. Saleh has spoken positively of him already. Including Spears in the “bellcow” column is notable, but we still expect him to be second on the depth chart. Pollard out-touched Spears 275 to 117 last season. Perhaps Spears can tack on a few more touches this year.

The Titans, who have the fourth pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, could be in the running for Love, who impressed at last week’s Scouting Combine. “Anytime you can get a running back like that, especially a three-down running back, that can play in the pass game as well and be able to take over a game, you’ve seen guys in the league now that can do that,” Borgonzi said when being asked about taking a running back in the top five. Titans head coach stressed the importance of a good run game in taking pressure off of second-year QB Cam Ward following Ward’s massive rookie year struggles. The Titans could save around $7 million in cap space if they release Tony Pollard, 29, with a post-June 1 designation. If he lands in Tennessee, Love would likely be the centerpiece of Brian Daboll’s offense, relegating Tyjae Spears to breather back status.

Spears “added” one catch for a loss of one yard. He was the recipient of a heroic throw by Cam Ward late in the fourth quarter, but it was ruled that Ward’s knee hit the ground before he got the pass off. Spears took a backseat to Tony Pollard in this game. Pollard touched the ball 20 times and totaled 95 yards. Coming off a 100-yard outing in Week 16, this goes down as a bust for Spears. He will shuffle back into the RB4 ranks for Week 18.

The 100-yard game was Spears’ first of the season, while the touchdown was only his second. His 13 carries were also a season high, while his five receptions tied for his second most. It was all a product of the Titans actually dictating the pace of play against a disinterested, injury-ruined Chiefs side. Week 17 against the Saints could be a close, competitive contest, but with the entire 32-team player pool at your disposal, you should still be able to do better than Spears in your FLEX spots.

He also added just two receiving yards on two catches. Spears’ three carries on the day put him well behind Tony Pollard’s 14 rushes. Spears also only had two targets despite the Titans trailing by double-digits for most of this game. It seems that Pollard’s breakout game last week convinced the Titans to give him the far larger share of the workload this week. We’re not sure that the backfield split will stay this pronounced, but it’s hard to roster Spears in redraft leagues considering how little he’s producing and how bad this Titans offense has been.

Spears’ 10 touches weren’t a bad total for a No. 2 running back, but they came as Tony Pollard rushed 25 times for 161 yards and two touchdowns. Spears did out-target Pollard 4-0, but that of course did not amount to much. Back to strict No. 2/pass-catching status over the past few weeks after briefly pushing for a more even timeshare, Spears has lost all 12-team league FLEX appeal with bye weeks over and the fantasy playoffs here for Week 15.

Spears was more involved with the Titans trailing for the majority of the game against the Jaguars. He out-snapped Tony Pollard by one total snap, catching all six of his targets in the passing game. Spears keeps a fantasy scoring floor due to his passing game usage, but his ceiling is capped with the lack of scoring from the anemic Titans offense. He is a touchdown-dependent FLEX play for Week 14 against the Browns.