Ty
Chandler.
Ty
Chandler.
North Carolina· 5'11"· 204 lb· 4.38s 40
Chandler is a 5-foot-11, 204-pound back whose game runs on speed. He clocked 4.38 with a 1.55 ten-yard split, and the tape matches: he hits the crease in a straight line, gets to top gear in a hurry and finishes long runs rather than getting caught.
He is a one-cut runner, not a creator. Give him a defined gap on a zone concept and he is decisive and productive, which is how he averaged six yards a carry for North Carolina. Ask him to make defenders miss in a phone booth and the picture gets worse, because the contact balance is average at his weight and he goes down on first contact more than a lead back should. He catches the ball reliably out of the backfield and returned kicks at both of his schools, which broadens the profile.
Outside and mid zone running game that gives him a clear read and a defined crease, paired with a special teams unit that wants a returner with legitimate 4.38 speed.
Year 1: kick returner and rotational back. Ceiling: committee starter carrying twelve to fifteen times a game in a zone scheme.
A gap and power run game that asks a back to grind through interior contact and carry 20 times a game between the tackles.
He is a finisher of runs, not a creator of them.
Ty Chandler 2021 Regular Season Highlights | UNC RB
Conference-produced reel of his 1,092-yard graduate transfer season.
Ty Chandler College Highlights
Career cut-up covering the Tennessee years and the North Carolina breakout.
UNC RB Ty Chandler Highlights Against Miami
Single-game footage showing the one-cut decisiveness and long speed.
Chandler was Tennessee Mr. Football as both a junior and a senior at Montgomery Bell Academy in Nashville, and he stayed in state to play for the Volunteers. He contributed immediately as a freshman and spent four seasons in Knoxville under two head coaching staffs, becoming the first running back in program history to catch a touchdown in three straight games during 2018.
The Tennessee years produced 2,046 rushing yards and thirteen touchdowns, solid work without a signature season. He entered the transfer portal after 2020 and joined Mack Brown at North Carolina as a graduate transfer, which is where the evaluation changed. He carried 182 times for 1,092 yards at six yards a pop with thirteen touchdowns, including a 198-yard game against Virginia and a 213-yard, four-touchdown afternoon against Wake Forest, earning second-team All-ACC.
Five years of tape, a 4.38 forty and kick return production made him a clean Day 3 evaluation. The questions were the ones that follow every 204-pound back: whether he could handle a full workload, and whether the one big season was the player or the scheme. Minnesota took him 169th overall.
- 01
Long speed
a 4.38 forty with a 1.55 ten-yard split, verified on tape by an 81-yard run at Tennessee and a 60-yarder at North Carolina.
- 02
One-cut decisiveness
plants and goes on zone concepts without dancing, which produced six yards a carry across 182 attempts as a graduate transfer.
- 03
Receiving reliability
73 career catches for 681 yards and four scores, including a 14.4-yard average as a senior.
- 04
Kick return value
47 career returns for 850 yards and a touchdown, an immediate special teams role for a Day 3 back.
- 05
Experience and durability
five seasons and 603 carries between the SEC and the ACC without a significant missed stretch.
- 01
Contact balance
at 204 pounds he goes down on first contact too often and does not create yardage the blocking failed to give him.
- 02
Elusiveness in tight spaces
average short-area agility, confirmed by a 7.40 three-cone, so he needs a defined lane rather than making one.
- 03
One-season profile
four years at Tennessee produced no season above 655 rushing yards before the 1,092-yard year at North Carolina.
- 04
Pass protection
light frame and inconsistent technique picking up blitzers, the skill that keeps a backup off the field on third down.
— — — positional median (p50)
- 40 yd
- 4.38sp50
- Vertical
- 31inp50
- Broad jump
- 121inp50
- Three-cone
- —s
- Shuttle
- —s
- Bench
- —rep
| Yr | Team | G | Att | Yds | TD | Rec | RecYds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Tennessee | — | 71 | 305 | 2 | 10 | 108 |
| 2018 | Tennessee | — | 115 | 630 | 4 | 19 | 183 |
| 2019 | Tennessee | — | 135 | 655 | 3 | 13 | 63 |
| 2020 | Tennessee | — | 100 | 456 | 4 | 16 | 111 |
| 2021 | North Carolina | — | 182 | 1092 | 13 | 15 | 216 |
| Career | — | — | 603 | 3138 | 26 | 73 | 681 |
Rushing and receiving lines come from ESPN's college splits and sum exactly to the career row shown. His four Tennessee seasons total 2,046 rushing yards and thirteen touchdowns, which matches the figure published in accounts of his transfer, and the 2021 North Carolina line of 182 carries for 1,092 yards and thirteen scores matches his second-team All-ACC season. Games played by season are not published in the sources consulted and are left blank rather than estimated. Kick return production, which totals 47 returns for 850 yards and one touchdown across four seasons, is tracked separately and is not part of this table.
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
Rotational back who holds a roster spot with return work and committee carries rather than a starting job.
Speed back who becomes a productive zone-scheme starter once he lands in the right system.
Fast, light back who bounces between teams as a depth piece and special teams contributor.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
Four seasons in, Chandler is a backup who has had exactly one real stretch. A thumb injury sent him to injured reserve on October 11 of his rookie year and he played three games. In 2023 he opened as the backup behind Alexander Mattison, scored his first touchdown in Week 10 and then started the last four games, running for a career-high 132 yards on 23 carries against Cincinnati and finishing with 102 attempts for 461 yards and three scores.
That was the peak. He carried 56 times for 182 yards in 2024 while handling kick returns, then opened 2025 third on the depth chart behind Aaron Jones and Jordan Mason, hurt his knee in the season opener and went on injured reserve on September 11. New Orleans signed him in March 2026 on a one-year, $1.215 million deal and placed him on injured reserve on August 25. Career line: 40 games, four starts, 710 rushing yards at 3.9 a carry, three touchdowns and 386 return yards. The speed was real, the workload never came.