Tony Pollard

Lawrence Jackson breaks down how Cooper Kupp and Tony Pollard climbed back to the top of the fantasy football world after big Week 1 performances.

Pollard was the clear RB1 in Week 1 against the Bears. He out-touched Spears 19 to 8, with Spears playing just 44 percent of the offensive snaps. Spears rushed for 21 yards on four attempts and caught four passes for 11 yards against the Bears. Pollard had 82 yards and a touchdown on the ground, along with three receptions for 12 yards. Pollard -- who averaged a solid 4.2 yards after contact per rush against Chicago -- will likely remain the Titans' primary ball carrier while Spears might see more passing game involvement going forward.

Spears got out-touched 19-8 by Tony Pollard as the Titans dealt with super bizarre game flow, racing out to a 17-0 lead then slowly bleeding it away and losing 24-17. Will Levis essentially could not move the ball in the second half. NextGenStats charted Spears as playing 44 percent of the snaps. Despite the strange game script, it's definitely not a good sign for Spears, who found himself behind Pollard in essentially every game situation. Although not quite yet a cut candidate, Spears will not be FLEX viable for Week 2 against the Jets' elite defense.

It was an extremely bizarre game where the Titans were both in milk-it mode up 17-0 and comeback mode down 24-17. Whatever the mode, Pollard was the lead back over Tyjae Spears, out-touching his supposedly "interchangeable" backfield mate 19-8. The majority of Pollard's production did come in the Titans' profitable first quarter, including his 26-yard touchdown where the Titans set the edge and sprung Pollard to the second level essentially untouched. We would not consider the matter "case closed" after one weird game, but Pollard is obviously the fantasy play over Spears for the time being, and is looking RB2 relevant ahead of a tough Week 2 matchup with the Jets.

Titans RB Tony Pollard out-carried RB Tyjae Spears 16 to four in Sunday's opener vs. the Bears. Both backs saw four targets. Pollard looked more explosive than he did at any point of his disappointing 2023 season. He ripped off 82 rushing yards for 5.1 yards per carry, highlighted by this 26-yard score in the first quarter. Pollard added 12 more yards on three catches.