Despite matching Derrick Henry’s rare streak of four straight 1,000-yard seasons, Tennessee's workhorse remains bafflingly overlooked in national rankings. Discover why the league continues to undervalue this elite producer.
A fact of life is that all good things must come to an end eventually.
That was the case for the Tennessee Titans and Derrick Henry. After joining the 2,000-yard club in 2020 and rushing for the second-most career yards (9,502) in franchise history, the Titans released Henry following the 2023 season.
Henry joined the Baltimore Ravens in free agency, and the Titans had to find a suitable replacement for one of the best running backs in the NFL.
The Titans have always seemed to have elite running back play, but finding the successor to Henry was going to be no easy task.
Ran Carthon was the General Manager at the time. He made four questionable moves in 2024, handing out massive contracts to Lloyd Cushenberry, Tony Pollard, Calvin Ridley and L'Jarius Sneed.
Cushenberry and Sneed never once played a full season with the Titans. Ridley looked lost last season, and then you had Pollard.
Pollard has actually lived up to his contract with the Titans, recording two 1,000-yard seasons since joining the franchise in 2024. Dating back to his time with the Dallas Cowboys, he's had 1,000 yards in the last four seasons.
The only other active NFL player to do that is Henry.
For some reason, Pollard continues to be devalued compared to other running backs around the league. He wasn't even an honorable mention in a recent ESPN article ranking the top 10 running backs in the NFL.
Anonymous executives, scouts and coaches all didn't consider Pollard worthy of a spot on the list.
The disrespect for Pollard has reached a new level lately. PFF's Max Chadwick and Dalton Wasserman ranked all 32 starting RBs in the league. Pollard came in at No. 21, and the players ranked ahead of him are the real story.
"Pollard has been a bell-cow back in each of the last few seasons and has now crossed 1,000 rushing yards in four consecutive years," PFF said. "While his 1,082 rushing yards in 2025 represented a career high, it was also accompanied by a career-low 70.5 PFF rushing grade. That’s mainly due to Pollard forcing a missed tackle on just 16% of his carries, which was 36th in the NFL. Still, he’s a player who can handle a heavy workload for an offense, which is useful for the Titans as they continue to let quarterback Cam Ward get his feet wet."
Let's look at the players ranked ahead of Pollard.
First and foremost was Ashton Jeanty, who just had a productive rookie season. Jeanty ran for 975 yards on the ground behind an awful Las Vegas Raiders offensive line. Is that better than someone who has had four consecutive 1,000-yard seasons? I would think not.
One of the real head-scratchers here is Omarion Hampton at No. 19. Hampton didn't even play a full season and is ranked ahead of Pollard. Even then, he finished with 545 rushing yards.
Then, you have Chase Brown, Javonte Williams and Breece Hall. The keyword here is first. For context, all three just had their first 1,000-yard seasons. That's right, first, and they are all ranked above Pollard.
Even Jaylen Warren was above Pollard. He hasn't even been able to cross the 1,000-yard threshold yet.
We could go on and on about how wrong it is that Pollard isn't ranked higher. It looks like he'll have to prove himself once again, even after all he's accomplished.
