Tony

Pollard

Staked to a passing game that was going nowhere, Pollard didn’t have much of a chance to make positive prowess. The Titans did feed him to try to get him to his yardage and touchdown incentives, and Pollard played 45 of 60 snaps, but they didn’t get anywhere on the Texans tough run defense. Pollard enters year two of his three-year contract with the Titans as the likely No. 1 back after staving off Tyjae Spears most of the season. The veteran back managed a 260/1069/5 rushing line along with 41/238/0 through the air. The Titans don’t have a compelling reason to move on from Pollard at this point, but he’s more of a band-aid than a fixture.

He looks likely to get a big workload with Tyjae Spears (concussion) out and has touchdown and yardage-based incentives that could lead the Titans to feed him the ball. Inactive for the Titans are S Amani Hooker, Spears, K Nick Folk, WR Jha’Quan Jackson, OLB Arden Key, RT Jaelyn Duncan, and WR Tyler Boyd. All of those players asides from Jackson was ruled out by injury on Friday.

As Schefter notes, Pollard needs 83 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns to reach $450K in incentives from his contract. Facing a Texans team that is likely to pull their starters early, Pollard should be able to get the yardage total and at least one score. Pollard will see plenty of work with Tyjae Spears sidelined for the final game of the year, putting him at the top of the WR2 ranks for Week 18.

Tyjae Spears has been ruled out. If Pollard also sits, the Titans will be down to Julius Chestnut as their starter. Pollard was limited in practice throughout the week. If the Titans had anything to play for, he would almost certainly be out there. Given that they have been eliminated from playoff contention for weeks, Pollard’s status is in doubt. Pollard will get a Texans team likely resting their starters in the second half, creating a positive game script for the veteran back. If active, he will sit in the RB2 ranks one last time.

Pollard has not been able to get a full practice in thus far, but the good news is he’s been able to get in two limited sessions. The same cannot be said for Tyjae Spears, as he hasn’t been able to clear the concussion protocol. If Pollard can go, he’ll be a RB2 against the Texans in Week 18.

Pollard did not practice last week before being listed as questionable. It was later reported that he had the flu, putting his availability further in doubt. The team ultimately ruled him out well before kickoff. Tyjae Spears suffered a concussion late in Week 17 and is now unlikely to play this week. If Pollard suits up, he will have the backfield to himself, putting him in the RB2 ranks for Week 18.

The Titans don’t have any reason to play Pollard, so we’ll see if they opt to put him on the field at less than 100 percent in the season finale. Pollard has been nursing an ankle injury for the last several weeks and was officially sidelined with the injury in Week 17’s game against the Jaguars. Playing in a lead role, Tyjae Spears totaled 103 yards from scrimmage on 22 touches and would see a similar role against the Texans if Pollard does play. Although, it was revealed that Spears suffered a concussion in Sunday’s loss and that he’ll need to clear concussion protocol in order to play.

Pollard’s absence paves the way for Tyjae Spears to serve as a near every-down back in a winnable matchup against the Jaguars. Spears has had a productive two weeks, scoring 21.6 fantasy points or more in consecutive games, and is now set up well to lead fantasy teams to the promised land without Pollard.

Pollard was out-touched 13-to-10 by Tyjae Spears while playing through a practice-less questionable tag last week. The 3-12 Titans have been eliminated from playoff contention and Pollard is clearly banged-up. Fantasy managers can no longer expect him to handle gaudy sums on a weekly basis. Pollard is an unreliable RB2 in an albeit decent matchup.

Pollard rarely practices anymore, let alone on Wednesday. On top of that, today’s practice report is an estimation by the team as no practices were actually held on Christmas. Stay tuned for Thursday’s report. Tyjae Spears out-carried Pollard 10-8 last week and could be in line for more work if Pollard is ruled out for Week 17.