Tyjae Spears' and Tony Pollard's personalities are so night and day that the Tennessee Titans' running backs can't even agree if their personalities are actually night-and-day.

Pollard: "I’m more of a chill, laid-back guy. Tyjae’s the loud, outspoken one."

Spears: "I don’t know why he told y’all he’s day and I’m night. He’s telling stories."

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So much has been made about the Titans' new backfield tandem, the duo tasked with thrusting the offense out of the Derrick Henry era and into a more quarterback-friendly, pass-happy scheme where running backs are as much extensions of the vertical attack as they are ground-and-pound foot soldiers.

Spears and Pollard are, in nearly every outsider's view, achingly similar players. Pollard is a little bigger (6-foot, 215 pounds) and more experienced. But both are versatile, multi-purpose backs who excelled at AAC colleges and were drafted in the middle rounds to serve as change-of-pace options, emerging as playmaking, pass-catching energy generators.

Spears (5-11, 195 pounds) remembers being compared to Pollard in the 2023 pre-draft process. After Pollard, who was drafted in 2019, signed with the Titans, Spears sent that comparison Pollard's way. They got a nice laugh out of it.

But when asked if he sees the similarities, Spears hemmed and hawed for a while before arriving at the conclusion everyone else leapt to.

"I don’t know. It’s easy from the outside looking in for y’all to see it," he said. "But I don’t really know. I feel like he’s his own person and I am too . . . I can say we’re probably on the similar side. We do a lot of similar things. We both run. We both do our thing also catching out of the backfield and also play special teams. So we’re very similar."

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Tyjae Spears, Tony Pollard, pens and swim trunks

So Pollard and Spears are alike. Why does this actually matter?

Think of it this way: Say you're writing a letter in blue pen. Halfway through, your pen runs out of ink. Your first instinct would be to reach for another blue pen, right?

Now let's put it another way: Say you're packing for a vacation. You're going to spend a whole week on the beach. Do you only bring bathing suits and flip-flops, or do you bring some streetwear and closed-toed shoes, too, in case you want to go to a restaurant or go hiking?

These two thought experiments essentially are the crux of the Pollard-Spears conversation. The Titans clearly have a plan for how they want their offense to function. Having interchangeable talents at a position like running back, where players substitute in and out multiple times per drive ensures the Titans never have to deviate from their plan. When one blue pen runs out of ink, just grab another blue pen. But in situations where it would behoove the team to deviate from the plan — on the goal line, third-and-short, drives where the Titans need to drain clock — having a less-diversified backfield limits options. It's the "don't show up to a steakhouse in a Speedo" conundrum.

Pollard says the biggest asset he and Spears have as a duo is how they can always keep defenses guessing. Both can run inside and out, catch passes and protect the quarterback. Unlike the Henry era, when it was pretty easy to predict the call based on their personnel, these Titans are less likely to tip their hand because of Spears or Pollard.

"Just never giving the defense a break," Pollard said. "You’ve got one guy to come in there and do a lot of different things, and then sub out and put in another back that can do the exact same and come in with a different energy. It’s going to be tough on the defense."

Spears admits he can be goofy off the field. Sometimes he'll tap Pollard's chair in meetings. Pollard calls him energetic, playful, someone who floats around the locker room. Spears says all they do is play and laugh.

That, and hone the intricacies of their shared game.

"He feels like a big brother," Spears said. "We correct each other. When we have problems that come up or any situation that we need to face, we correct each other. We laugh. We talk all day. It’s a great relationship."

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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.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Tennessee Titans' Tyjae Spears, Tony Pollard as new backfield duo