Tony Pollard's 2023 season was basically a disaster. After finishing as an RB1 in Week 1, he didn't finish as an RB1 again until Week 11. He had three straight weeks at that point as being an RB1 and didn't have another finish as an RB1 until the last week of the season. Only five weeks was he able to crack the top 12 running backs last year, and a lot of that had to do with career lows across the board in almost all of his efficiency categories.
Now, not all of it was his fault. He was coming back from a major leg injury the previous season and maybe just didn't get his full strength back right away. Also, Dallas really changed up how they utilized Tony Pollard last season. They just tried to slip him right into the Ezekiel Elliott role, and that's not what Tony Pollard is. Instead of getting him the ball in open space and letting him work some magic, they just decided to run him into the back of their offensive line 10 times a game and just hope that he could figure it out after that.
But I don't know if Tony Pollard's situation is going to be all that much better in 2024. Now he's with the Tennessee Titans, and you can say what you want about Dak Prescott and the Dallas Cowboys and how they choke in the playoffs, but realistically, from a statistical standpoint, they were one of the best offenses in all of football last season. I don't know if Tennessee's offensive line is going to be better than what Dallas had last year. I don't know if Will Levis is going to be better than Dak Prescott during the regular season. From a weapon standpoint on the outside, they could probably match CeeDee Lamb with DeAndre Hopkins and Calvin Ridley, but exactly what are we going to get from Will Levis? How is he going to grow, and how is he going to manage this offense?
It really feels like Tennessee is going to do the same thing with Tony Pollard that Dallas did last year, where he's the main running back, and they're going to be running him between the tackles 10 times a game. That's not Tony Pollard's game, and his backup right now is Tyjae Spears, whose game isn't all that much different. So it just feels like a whole lot of uncertainty. Being another year removed from that leg injury absolutely could do wonders for Tony Pollard, but until I see consistent production in this offense and the growth from Will Levis to really take this offense to the next level, it's going to be hard for me to invest in Tony Pollard on a consistent basis.
Now, the good news is if you want to invest in him, he's not going to be nearly as expensive this year as he was last year, so the return on investment could still be much better even if he doesn't reach RB1 standards.
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