Who Should I Start? Tony Pollard or Travis Etienne

Tuesday, July 23, 6:43 PM

Tennessee Titans running backs Tyjae Spears and Tony Pollard appear poised to split reps in 2024. While discussing a potential starter at running back, new head coach Brian Callahan indicated that both players could be interchangeable and may even share the field simultaneously. It affirms what many of us suspected heading into training camp, which is that this backfield will likely be roughly a 50/50 split. Both players have similar skill sets and are electric to watch when they get hot. Their speed will be a necessity given that the Titans enter the season with the 30th-ranked offensive line, according to PFF. Both players will leech each other's fantasy value in 2024. If second-year quarterback Will Levis can take a solid step forward, the dump-off opportunities could be there for both players if the running lanes are clogged. Each player is drafted outside the top-24 running backs in fantasy drafts, which is in line with RotoBaller's running back rankings that have Pollard as the RB25 while Spears is RB30.

Thursday, May 23, 6:23 PM

For the second straight season, the Jacksonville Jaguars plan to ease running back Travis Etienne Jr.'s workload in 2024. Despite similar plans last year, Etienne actually had a bigger workload in 2023 than he did in 2022, and head coach Doug Pederson doesn't want to repeat that. "We talked about this as a staff and myself, making sure Tank Bigsby gets opportunities to get out there and take some of the pounding off of Travis," head coach Doug Pederson said. Etienne took over as the top back in 2022 by mid-October and accounted for 61% of the RB carries and 60% of the RB touches. Last year, he had 75% of the RB carries and 76% of the RB touches. Bigsby never quite earned the trust of the coaches for a bigger role in 2023, but that figures to change this year. Etienne missed his rookie year with a Lisfranc foot injury but has since established himself as a top back in the NFL. However, his ceiling as an RB1 in fantasy in 2024 could be tough to come by.