Breece Hall was a steal for the New York Jets in the second round
New York Jets general manager Joe Douglas recently made a nearly-17-minute appearance on the Rich Eisen Show, discussing the Jets’ 2022 NFL draft proceedings with the famously passionate Jets fan.
Douglas’ most notable quote of the interview had to be his revelation of Iowa State running back Breece Hall‘s exact ranking on the team’s draft board. New York ended up trading up two spots in the second round to select Hall with the 36th overall pick, and based on where Douglas said Hall ranked on their board, that made Hall a major steal for them.
“I really wish I could tell you there’s some magic trick or special sauce, it’s just us following our board,” Douglas said of the Hall selection. “Breece was our 18th-rated player. And it was like, this is an opportunity to get one of the more dynamic players in the draft; the best running back in the draft.”
Getting your 18th-ranked player with the 36th overall pick is obviously quite the coup, even if the Jets had to trade a fifth-round selection to the crosstown-rival Giants to do it. New York believed the Houston Texans (situated in the 37th slot) would have taken Hall, so they leapfrogged Houston to guarantee the selection of a top-20 prospect on their board.
Douglas expressed excitement about pairing Hall with 2021 fourth-round pick Michael Carter, who recorded 964 yards from scrimmage in 14 games as a rookie.
“I feel like now we have one of the more elusive backfield tandems in the league now [with] Michael and Breece.”
Douglas’ claim is far from hyperbole. Carter led all NFL running backs in missed tackles forced per touch during the 2021 season. Hall ranked third among FBS running backs with 90 missed tackles forced in the 2021 college football season.
Hall racked up 3,526 yards from scrimmage and 46 total touchdowns for the Cyclones over the past two seasons. He closed his career with a streak of 24 straight games in which he scored a touchdown. The last time Hall finished a game without scoring was December 28, 2019, which was 857 days ago.
Still only 20 years old, Hall will turn 21 on May 31 and is set to be one of the youngest backs in the NFL this season.
