Start Jaylen Warren or Tony Pollard? Week 1

Our Week 1 call

Start Tony Pollard over Jaylen Warren in Week 1.

Tony Pollard is priced by the books at 10.5 projected points. Jaylen Warren has no player market posted for this week, so his side of this call rests on consensus ADP and the news wire only. Drafters take Tony Pollard at ADP 70 and Jaylen Warren at 62.

What the books imply

No sportsbook posted a player market for Jaylen Warren in Week 1.

Player prop markets imply 10.5 fantasy points for Tony Pollard, with 100 percent of the markets a RB needs posted.

Week 1 matchups

Jaylen Warren and PIT host ATL.

ATL allowed 14.4 fantasy points to RBs in its one game this season, the 9th fewest in the league.

Running backs ran for 61 yards and no touchdowns against ATL and caught passes for 33 more yards.

Tony Pollard and TEN host NYJ on Sunday at 1:00 PM ET.

NYJ allowed 8.8 fantasy points to RBs in its one game this season, the 2nd fewest in the league.

Running backs ran for 47 yards and no touchdowns against NYJ and caught passes for 11 more yards.

By points allowed to the position, Jaylen Warren has the softer matchup.

Injury status

Jaylen Warren was not on the injury report when the call was made.

Tony Pollard was not on the injury report when the call was made.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025, Jaylen Warren played 16 games for PIT and scored 217.1 PPR points, 13.6 a game, finishing RB17.

He ran 211 times for 958 yards and 6 touchdowns, and caught 40 of 45 targets for 333 yards.

He was on the field for 51 percent of the offense's snaps in the games he played.

Jaylen Warren, Week 18 of 2025 against BAL: 14 carries for 66 yards, 5 targets and 5 catches for 33 yards, 14.9 PPR points.

Jaylen Warren, Week 17 of 2025 against CLE: 21 of 66 snaps, 12 carries for 64 yards, 0 targets and 0 catches for 0 yards, 6.4 PPR points.

Jaylen Warren, Week 16 of 2025 against DET: 36 of 74 snaps, 14 carries for 143 yards, 2 targets and 2 catches for 8 yards, 2 touchdowns, 29.1 PPR points.

In 2025, Tony Pollard played 17 games for TEN and scored 185.8 PPR points, 10.9 a game, finishing RB23.

He ran 242 times for 1082 yards and 5 touchdowns, and caught 33 of 41 targets for 206 yards.

He was on the field for 62 percent of the offense's snaps in the games he played.

Tony Pollard, Week 18 of 2025 against JAX: 14 carries for 48 yards, 3 targets and 3 catches for 17 yards, 9.5 PPR points.

Tony Pollard, Week 17 of 2025 against NO: 37 of 74 snaps, 18 carries for 85 yards, 2 targets and 2 catches for 10 yards, 11.5 PPR points.

Tony Pollard, Week 16 of 2025 against KC: 40 of 73 snaps, 21 carries for 102 yards, 0 targets and 0 catches for 0 yards, 10.2 PPR points.

How Week 1 went

Tony Pollard scored 4.4 PPR points and Jaylen Warren scored 10.3.

The call was wrong: Jaylen Warren outscored Tony Pollard by 5.9.

Tony Pollard finished 6.1 points below the 10.5 the props implied.

Tony Pollard, Week 1 against NYJ: 26 of 50 snaps, 7 carries for 35 yards, 2 targets and 1 catch for -1 yards, 4.4 PPR points.

Tony Pollard finished as the week's RB44 in PPR scoring.

Jaylen Warren, Week 1 against ATL: 25 of 67 snaps, 10 carries for 46 yards, 6 targets and 5 catches for 27 yards, 10.3 PPR points.

Jaylen Warren finished as the week's RB25 in PPR scoring.

Their other Week 1 calls

• Start Bhayshul Tuten over Jaylen Warren.
• Start Jaylen Warren over Chuba Hubbard.
• Start David Montgomery over Jaylen Warren.
• Start Tony Pollard over Chuba Hubbard.
• Start David Montgomery over Tony Pollard.
• Start Jadarian Price over Tony Pollard.