The Tennessee Titans are still looking for their first win, and the trade talk around their veterans has already reached national television. ESPN’s Adam Schefter spent part of his “Sunday NFL Countdown” segment listing players to watch before the Nov. 10 deadline, and one of the Titans’ top trade candidates made his list: running back Tony Pollard.
“Tony Pollard fits the profile of somebody who could be dealt before the trade deadline,” Schefter said during the segment. “A team that’s not winning with a player in the last year of his contract. If there’s a team that needs running back help, Pollard might be the first call.” ESPN had already named Pollard among 10 candidates to be moved in an early look at the deadline on Friday.
Why Tony Pollard would draw trade calls
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Pollard, 29, has run for more than 1,000 yards in four straight seasons, the last two of them in Tennessee. He has 173 yards on 38 carries through three games this year, a 4.6-yard average on an offense that is scoring 12.3 points per game. PFF has him at a 76.0 overall grade, which ranks eighth among 46 qualifying running backs, and credits him with eight missed tackles forced as a runner.
The contract is just as easy for another team to take on. Pollard is in the last season of the three-year, $21.75 million deal he signed in 2024. His base salary is $6.74 million, none of his remaining money is guaranteed and Tennessee would carry $2 million in dead money if it traded him, according to Over the Cap.
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This isn’t new ground for the Titans, who drew interest in Pollard before last year’s deadline and kept him. What has changed is the situation around him. Tennessee is 0-3 for the third year in a row, this time in Robert Saleh’s first season as head coach, and Cam Ward and the offense have struggled in the red zone. Behind Pollard, Tyjae Spears has 58 yards on 13 carries and rookie Nicholas Singleton has four carries, so the Titans have younger backs they could give that work to if the season keeps going this way.
Schefter’s condition was a team that isn’t winning, and Tennessee gets its next chance to change that Sunday at Baltimore, where it is an 11.5-point underdog. The deadline is 4 p.m. ET on Nov. 10, after Week 9. If the Titans are still losing by then, Pollard is the player Schefter says teams in need of a running back might call about first.
