Tennessee Titans Running Back Depth Chart — 2026

A handcuff is the backup who inherits the starter's workload if the starter gets hurt — so the Titans handcuff is whoever sits directly behind Tony Pollard on the depth chart above. Rostering him is how you protect a starting back you have already spent a pick on. More on what a handcuff is.

Tyjae Spears out-targeted Tony Pollard per game last season — 3.85 against 2.41 — which is a starter's receiving role rather than a handcuff's. Spears played 41.2% of Tennessee's pass snaps.

Pollard has been among the most available backs anywhere — 81 of 85 team games across 5 seasons, 4 missed. So this is less a contingency question than a share question.

Spears is not a replacement-level backup. He took 35.3% of Tennessee's offensive snaps, 41st among running backs, without reaching the hundred carries a back needs before a rushing rate is worth ranking — the usage was real, the rushing volume was not. Pollard cleared it at 242 carries and +0.47 yards over expected per carry, 25th of 49 qualifying backs.

The depth chart behind them has shifted. Michael Carter now sits third, with rookie Nicholas Singleton fourth. Dominic Richardson, who joined Tennessee from Dallas, adds another body to the room. None of the three carries a professional stat line worth ranking yet.

Both, and the reporting below has the head coach calling them both bell cows — which is a description of a committee, whatever the depth chart says.

Pollard carried it 242 times and took 62.3% of the snaps to Spears' 35.3%. The carry split favours Pollard; the target split does not.

That is a stable arrangement rather than a battle. It also means Spears has weekly value without anything going wrong, which is not true of most second backs.

Yes, and it is the second name on the chart.

Spears drew 50 targets in 13 games, 3.85 a game, and caught 45 for 264 yards at 0.99 receiving yards per pass snap. Pollard drew 41 in 17, 2.41 a game, at 0.57.

On pass snaps Spears was at 41.2% and Pollard 56.3%. The reporting below says a new coordinator may give Spears a larger role still, as a runner and in the passing game, which is the single clearest upside case in any of these backfields.

What the beat is reporting, last refreshed 2026-09-08. Nothing here is measured — it is reporting, attributed and dated.

Head coach Robert Saleh called Pollard and Spears the team's bell cows at the position during the offseason (TennesseeTitans.com, 2026-07-13).

In new offensive coordinator Brian Daboll's offense, Spears has a chance at a bigger role as a runner and in the passing game (TennesseeTitans.com, 2026-07-13).

Fifth-round pick Nicholas Singleton was limited early in the offseason recovering from a college injury but looked more impressive in the later OTAs (TennesseeTitans.com, 2026-07-13).