The 2026 NFL draft is over, free agency is on its final legs, and teams have begun to shift their focus to the start of offseason workouts.

For the New York Jets, there’s just one piece of unfinished business to deal with left…

The Breece Hall contract extension.

The former second-round pick out of Iowa State put forth a career year last season with over 1,000 yards rushing for the first time in his NFL career. Coupled with the idea he was New York’s only true offensive weapon last season, Hall believes he’s done enough to warrant a lucrative contract extension.

There are those in the Jets facility who agree with him. With the draft complete, it’s time for the two sides to come together to get a deal done.

But what would a new extension for Hall look like, and have the Jets placed themselves in an unenviable position?

Hall extension breakdown

The current tag number for a running back is $14.293 million, which represents the Jets’ highest-cap hit for the 2026 season. That makes Hall the fifth-highest-paid running back in the NFL.

The argument made by the former second-round pick is that if New York is already willing to make him a highly paid player at his position now, what’s stopping them from doing so for the next three years?

Hall is still just 24 years old and averages under 300 touches per season — hardly the kind of workload that should have the organization worried about the potential of running down their star.

Of course, that isn’t how NFL organizations, especially the Jets, operate.

New York understands it’ll pay Hall for the value of three seasons, with a potential extension. If the Jets believe they won’t get “top-five” play out of Hall in any of the next few seasons, they will be cautious about giving him that kind of deal.

It’s a big reason why, while the team continues to say they want Hall around long-term, no agreement has been reached.

“I anticipate addressing the Breece Hall contract stuff,” general manager Darren Mougey said after the draft. “I got a list of things we have to turn the page from on the draft and address next week. I’ve got a list of things to get to next week, that being one of them. I want to have discussions internally, have discussions with Breece’s party before saying much more.

“I anticipate kind of turning my attention to Breece and that contract situation. We’ll address it internally and see where it goes.”

So, what will an extension look like for Hall?

Unfortunately for the Jets, they have backed themselves into a corner with their incoming negotiations.

Nowhere for the Jets to go

Last season, the Jets were very focused on making their running back room a “by committee” approach before the season began. They wanted to limit the number of touches Hall received during a game.

The 2025 season forced their hands. The injury to Braelon Allen forced the Jets to rely on Hall for the majority of their offensive output — along with help from Isaiah Davis.

Hall showed he could carry the load for a full season. With that, he now wants compensation worthy of a feature back.

Furthermore, the Jets did nothing to address their running back room. No running backs were drafted or signed in free agency. Simply put, the room will feature Allen, Davis, and Hall for the third straight year.

That means if the Jets were to play hardball with their star runner, he could simply choose to sit out practices and make the situation even more difficult. New York has no choice but to agree to terms on a long-term deal with Hall.

There is no alternative on the roster.

Sooner or later, the Jets will need to agree to make Hall a top-five back, even if they don’t believe he is one at this point. They could have taken steps to become versatile.

They chose not to, and now they have to live with the reality by ponying up the big bucks.