NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tony Pollard has played his way into some very exclusive company in the NFL alongside Derrick Henry as the league's only running backs to run for at least 1,000 yards each of the last four seasons.
Going into his eighth NFL season, the Tennessee Titans running back thinks he has room for improvement.
“The work ethic, everything that I’m doing behind the scenes, it’s paying off," Pollard said Friday after the Titans' second open
offseason training session. "I slowly feel like throughout my career I’ve just slowly progressed more and more, and I feel like I’m still trending in that direction.”
Henry currently ranks 10th all-time in the NFL in rushing, finishing second in the league each of the past four seasons. Pollard was signed in 2024 to replace Henry in Tennessee and hasn't come close with Pollard's consistency overshadowed by consecutive 3-14 records by the Titans.
Pollard started his stretch reaching the 1,000-yard mark in his last two seasons in Dallas and then his first two with Tennessee. He also has set a new career high in rushing each of his last two seasons capped by 1,082 yards rushing in 2025. That included a career-high 161 yards rushing in a win at Cleveland last December.
Assistant coach Randy Jordan made clear he appreciates Pollard as a pro's pro even if the running back isn't talked about nationally.
“This is a grind,” Jordan said. "This is not a sprint, this a marathon. And the hits and the stuff that the running backs take and for him to show up every week ... I mean, that’s a testimony in terms of him being the player that he has (been) and has had the success that he had the last four years.”
New Titans coach Robert Saleh kept Jordan on his staff in the same spot coaching Pollard and the other running backs. Saleh got a sideline view of what Pollard can do last season when the running back piled up 104 yards rushing in a Titans' loss at San Francisco in December.
Pollard, who averaged 7.4 yards a carry with a touchdown in that game, talked briefly with Saleh after that game. Now Saleh gets to watch the running back up close and has been impressed by how Pollard is deliberate even in walk-throughs with everything he does.
“He’s an unbelievable pro,” Saleh said. “Does everything the right way, brings a lot of juice and energy, he’s a positive individual. I feel like he’s in here all the time, getting regen, working on his body, doing the things he needs to do to get himself ready, and then his practice habits are second to none and how deliberate he is.”
Speculation ran rampant that the Titans might select Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love with the fourth pick in the draft. Love was gone at No. 3, and the Titans took wide receiver Carnell Tate.
Pollard said he's busy with his wife and three children with a new baby due any day now. He knows in the NFL, it's a team's job to replace each player at some point. That's also why he stays focused on what works for him.
“I take a lot of pride in my consistency because in this league, the best ability is being available," Pollard said. "So if you’re not healthy, if you not there week to week, then it’s hard to depend on you.”
Former Titans coach and team broadcaster Dave McGinnis, who died in April, will join the team's Ring of Honor during the regular season. Controlling owner Amy Adams Strunk announced the honor Thursday during a memorial service for McGinnis.
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