Replacing Derrick Henry doesn’t end with Spears, Pollard: Tennessee Titans search for RB3

Replacing Derrick Henry won’t just be the job of two men.

In Henry’s five healthy seasons, from 2018 to 2023, the Tennessee Titans handed the ball to their No. 3 running back an average of 0.75 times per game. Their No. 3 running back in 2023, Jonathan Ward, carried just three times all season.

For comparison, the average No. 3 NFL back in 2023 carried 32 times. The Pittsburgh Steelers were the only team that used a third tailback less frequently than the Titans.

Tyjae Spears and Tony Pollard are taking over Henry’s mantle atop the depth chart, but without a Henry-like presence touching the ball 30 times per game, the Titans need more bodies.

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“You’re not just going to have two backs. You’re actually going to have to platoon about three of them,” Titans running backs coach Randy Jordan told The Tennessean. “That third guy’s got to be a special teams guy. He’s got to be a guy we can count on. I really look for that third guy to be able to play on first, second and third down and be able to be a plug-and-play guy. It’s a really, really big decision.”

The Titans’ options beyond Spears and Pollard are: 2022 fourth-round pick Hassan Haskins; two-year practice squad player Julius Chestnut; and undrafted rookies Jabari Small and Dillon Johnson. The four players have 34 NFL carries combined, and none since 2022.

No player in that bunch should be expected to replace Henry, but Jordan has various reasons for why he’s excited about the depth of his room.

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The biggest question mark about the Spears-Pollard tandem is to whom the Titans will turn in situations that call for a bigger back. This is where Haskins can stake his claim to the No. 3 job.

“Hassan, he’s one that I’m really intrigued with,” Jordan said. “Big backs, I kind of like coaching those guys. They have a different type of skill set. I call it being a bully. I say, ‘Look, God made you that size. Let’s make sure we let people know that you’re the bully on every play.’ “

Jordan says the 6-foot-2, 228-pound Haskins is doing a good job of absorbing information and executing plays. Haskins hasn’t played since 2022, though, and he’s not the Titans’ only bigger option. Chestnut measures in at 5-11, 228 pounds, and Johnson is 5-11, 217 pounds.

More than filling one specific role, though, Jordan says the main thing he’s looking for from a No. 3 back is consistency. He doesn’t want players who know the protections on Wednesday but forget them by Friday, or players who have energy on Thursdays but not Mondays.

With regards to consistency, he has been pleased with his two rookies. Small, the Tennessee product, and Johnson, the Washington standout, roomed together throughout OTAs and minicamp, helping each other learn the offense. Both have significant learning curves coming from wide-open college passing attacks, starting even with huddling for the first time.

But both expressed confidence in their fit with the Titans.

“I think it complements me,” Johnson said. “I played at Washington where we threw the ball a lot, but we also ran the ball a lot. So that’s kind of a balanced attack.”

“It’s definitely a learning curve as far as what I’ve been doing the past three years, but football is football,” Small added. “Everybody runs the same things. It’s just different formations, different terminology.”

Jordan called Small the team’s “tweener.” Come training camp, Jordan is excited to see how Small responds in pass protection, because he’s already fairly confident in his pass-catching ability and versatility.

Between the practice squad and active roster, it’s plausible the Titans could hold on to Haskins, Chestnut, Johnson and Small, especially with the added value running backs provide under the new kickoff rules. But given the need for balanced depth everywhere, it’s most likely the player who makes the 53-man roster as the No. 3 running back will have to be dependable as a runner, receiver, blocker and tackler.

Figuring out who that should be will earn Jordan his paycheck.

“It’s probably one of the most important things as a coach that I’m going to have to do this year,” Jordan said.

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Nick Suss is the Titans beat writer for The Tennessean. Contact Nick at nsuss@gannett.com. Follow Nick on X, the platform formerly called Twitter, @nicksuss.