New York Jets running back Breece Hall has been the talk of many fans around the league. The former second-round running back out of Iowa State is entering the final year of his contract with Gang Green.
After an ineffective year in 2024, it’s unlikely that the Jets will give Hall the chance to sign a long-term extension before the 2025 season begins.
That leads many analysts around the league to believe that the top back could be moved before the regular season kicks off. Many players in league history have been moved along that same mindset.
Those trade rumors are laughable.
And there’s one reason above all else that makes those questions insane.
Breece Hall trade chatter
It is true that the Jets and Hall are seemingly entering their final year together. Despite the running back’s age (24), Hall seems to be looking for the kind of long-term commitment that the Jets don’t seem comfortable making to a position of lesser value.
Just because they are moving toward an eventual departure, it doesn’t mean the organization will sign up for that happening earlier than expected.
Quite frankly, it goes against everything new head coach Aaron Glenn and his staff have spent months pushing on the team.
Since he was first introduced to the team back in January, Glenn has made it clear that he wanted to build a sustained winner in New York, and that it would start right away. The words Glenn used made it clear the Jets were fighting to win in 2025 – not rebuild.
Trading away Hall before the regular season begins goes against that point.
While Gang Green is using a by-committee approach to their running back room this season, with an increase in touches coming for Braelon Allen and Isaiah Davis, Hall is still the lead guy in the room.
His role as a potential receiver should help tremendously as well.
“I think Breece is a matchup issue for defensive players, especially the linebackers,” Jets offensive coordinator Tanner Engstrand said. “If they want to play man-to-man coverage with Breece, I’m going to take that match up any day of the week, and it’s been fun to see him develop the route tree, not just in the backfield, but outside of the backfield as well, and see if we can find some things that he does out there that can give us some chances to get some explosives.”
Hall is arguably New York’s second-best receiving option this year. As a running back, his skill set is a welcome sight for an offense that will be run-first in 2025.
It makes little sense for a team like the Jets to trade him before they have to.
That also doesn’t mean a trade is off the table once the deadline comes around, though. If New York is firmly out of playoff contention, there could be a path to trading away the veteran running back for future draft picks.
We have plenty of time before that moment, though. And if Glenn is true to his word about fielding a team that can win in his first year, it makes no sense to trade away one of his best offensive weapons.
The recent trade rumors around Hall have been insane. The only way to put an end to all of those, though, will be for the Jets to do exactly what Glenn wants to do this season.
Win.