The New York Jets having a plethora of talented running backs on the roster has become quite the talking point this offseason. It has even led to trade predictions involving Breece Hall, who has flashed a ton of potential throughout his first three seasons in the league.
Despite the trade rumor whispers, one analyst still believes Hall has an elite ceiling at the RB position entering the 2025 NFL season.
Breece Hall Has One Stat that Suggests He Still Has Elite Upside as a Feature RB
Breece Hall looked like a budding star after his breakout 2023 campaign, where he produced over 1,500 total yards and nine scores less than a year removed suffering a torn ACL.
Unfortunately, a disappointing 2024 campaign combined with the emergence of both Braelon Allen and Isaiah Davis has clouded his outlook entering the final year of his rookie contract.
Well, PFF NFL Analyst Nathan Jahnke pointed out an encouraging metric that could help paint a favorable picture about Hall’s potential as an elite running back in the NFL.
Jahnke wrote, “Despite some up-and-down play, at times, his {Hall} career 3.4 yards after contact per attempt are the best among running backs over the last three seasons. He has one of the more extreme splits in how well he plays during perfectly blocked runs compared to not, going from 8.6 yards per attempt to 3.0. The problem is that he’s seen fewer perfectly blocked runs than most backs. He also has a very extreme split, playing better on gap runs than zone, but he’s run more zone plays.”
Is Breece Hall Still Going to be the clear RB1 in New York?
Despite the encouraging yards after contact per attempt numbers, there are still questions that remain about Hall’s status as the lead back in New York entering the season.
Jahnke added, “The Lions’ new head coach, Aaron Glenn, brought former Detroit Lions passing game coordinator Tanner Engstrand with him to New York. It’s his first year leading an offense, so we don’t know how far off his offense will be from Ben Johnson’s. It is very easy to picture Braelon Allen taking the David Montgomery role in this offense while Hall takes the Jahmyr Gibbs role. This wouldn’t be as good as a feature role in the offense, but Gibbs has been an elite option. The Jets will need to have a good offense for Hall to have any chance of matching Gibbs’ value.”
The Jahmyr Gibbs has worked out pretty well for Gibbs in Detroit, but comparing those two situations and backs feels like an apples-to-oranges comparison.
Jahnke touched on the quotes from the Jets new head coach writing, “Head coach Aaron Glenn said, “We have three running backs on this team that we’re going to utilize as much as possible,” but plenty of coaches hype up their third running back at this point of the season and end up not using them. Hall is also in the last season of his rookie contract, which also complicates matters.”
Does this quote automatically mean this Jets backfield is going to be a full-blown running back by committee? No, but the quote from a new head coach who didn’t draft Hall feels noteworthy.
Hall still feels like the best back in this New York backfield entering the year, but it will be interesting to see if this new coaching staff sees him as a lead back and uses him in that manner.
We’ll get the answers eventually, but Hall definitely doesn’t feel like the clear-cut bell cow back in this backfield entering 2025.
