tennessean
How Nick Singleton is used by Titans is big question with Tony Pollard, Tyjae Spears The Tennessee Titans are off on summer vacation and won't return until training camp begins in late July.
Coach Robert Saleh and GM Mike Borgonzi have spent half a year reinventing the Titans depth chart in Saleh's image, making changes in an attempt to create depth and playmaking dynamism after back-to-back 3-14 seasons.
To bridge the summer break into the season, The Tennessean is looking at each Titans position group individually and evaluating the big questions that will determine how the Titans' 2026 season goes.
Here we look at Tony Pollard, Tyjae Spears, Nick Singleton and the Titans' running backs.
Let's start with a reality check: If Nick Singleton, one of the Titans' fifth-round picks, was so good that he automatically deserved to be in the rotation with Tony Pollard and Tyjae Spears, he probably wouldn't have been a fifth-round pick.
The question can't and shouldn't be whether Singleton deserves to usurp reps away from Pollard on Day 1.
It's whether the Titans are on good footing at running back with Pollard's and Spears' contracts expiring next spring.
So who is Singleton as a rookie? He's the truest big-play threat the Titans have out of the backfield, and he's a bigger option than Spears or Pollard.
Explosiveness is his greatest asset, but he doesn't quite have the track record Pollard does as an every-down bell cow nor the track record Spears does as a pass-catching machine.
That leaves Singleton in an interesting position.
In the traditional sense, Singleton is the Titans' most conventionally talented running back.
In an old-school model where there's a starter and a backup, Singleton would deserve starter consideration on well-roundedness and breadth of talent.
In a rotation, though, Singleton makes less sense than Pollard on first and second downs and makes less sense than Spears on third downs.
But this conversation is focused on too small a scope.
Any value judgment on Singleton shouldn't start until 2027, when the Titans would be able to transition him into a starter role if they see fit.
And for that to be the case, Singleton's going to need to be an outlier.
From 2016-25, there were 114 running backs drafted in the fifth round or later.
Only six of them have posted a 1,000-yard rushing season, a 5% hit rate.
By contrast, 31 of the 109 running backs selected between Round 1 and Round 4 have busted out for a 1,000-yard campaign, good for a 28% hit rate.
Dating back to 2000, the most productive running backs drafted where Singleton was or later have been Aaron Jones, Latavius Murray and Alfred Morris.
Singleton's pedigree (he was the nation's No.
1 RB recruit out of high school) and experience (he was a four-year starter at Penn State) set him apart a bit, and that's why he's drawing this attention in a way that 2025 sixth-round pick Kalel Mullings didn't.
Singleton's traits are mighty enticing, and the residual hunger to replace Pollard from the Jeremiyah Love hype cycle can't be discounted.
Maybe it's best to think of Singleton similarly to how WRs Chimere Dike and Elic Ayomanor were in 2025.
Getting them early reps was always the plan, and that development is paying off for Year 2.
But the Titans were always going to go out and get a true No.
1 receiver to leapfrog Dike and Ayomanor in the pecking order as they did with 2026 first-rounder Carnell Tate.
Singleton is talented enough to steal 50-100 touches from Pollard and Spears.
But he'll have to significantly outshoot his projection for the conversation in 2027 to be anything beyond "Singleton and somebody else." Titans depth chart: Running backs *New additions to Titans roster in italics - Tony Pollard - Tyjae Spears - Nick Singleton - Michael Carter - Kalel Mullings - Julius Chestnut More Titans running back questions: A speed read - Is Pollard too old to weather 275-touch season? He's definitely approaching the back end of his prime, but it's a little soon to speculate about if he's hit his cliff.
- Is Mullings' time up? Let's see how the Titans use him in camp.
Drafting Singleton makes his life harder, but Mullings can still be the Titans' bruiser.
- How many RBs will the Titans carry? Four on the active roster feels like the right number with how much depth the Titans plan to carry in the trenches, but there's room for a special teams ace like Chestnut on every team.
Nick Suss is the Titans beat writer for The Tennessean.
Contact Nick at [email protected].
Follow Nick on X @nicksuss.
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