On Friday, the New York Jets locked up running back Breece Hall on a three-year, $45 million contract.

Gang Green made a wise move, getting ahead of the running back market before top players at the position like Jahmyr Gibbs and Bijan Robinson received extensions, which would have significantly boosted Hall’s price.

The team shouldn’t stop there, though.

Ahead of the 2026 season, New York should make it a priority to also ink an extension with 2023 second-round pick Joe Tippmann.

It’s Joe Tippmann’s time

Tippmann, 25, has thrived in his first three seasons with the Jets.

At first, he appeared to be the team’s center of the future. After an injury to Alijah Vera-Tucker, though, ahead of the 2025 season, he slid out to guard, where he dominated both as a pass blocker and run defender.

Given that, he is expected to remain at guard for the foreseeable future.

The Jets currently boast one of the league’s youngest and most promising offensive lines. With a young, franchise quarterback expected to enter the fold for the 2027 season, the Jets have to do everything they can to keep New York a prime destination for a young quarterback.

Extending Tippmann makes even more sense when applying that logic.

What else does he need to show? He has started every game for the team over the past two seasons and 48 games in his three seasons with the team, while at times performing among the league’s best.

No fifth-year option available

As with Hall, a second-round pick, the Jets don’t have as much flexibility with Tippmann as they do with their 2023 first-round pick, Will McDonald, whose fifth-year option the team recently exercised.

If the Jets don’t get a deal done with the Wisconsin product, he will enter next offseason as a free agent. It would be malpractice on the organization’s part to let that happen.

Quality, homegrown offensive linemen of Tippmann’s ilk don’t grow on trees. He was one of Joe Douglas’ most outstanding picks from his time as the Jets’ general manager, and by no measure should he be allowed to face the open market.

Jets fans know this firsthand: Offensive line play can make or break a young quarterback’s early success.

New York has done a great job building the offensive trenches in the past few years, and now, it is time to pay up for one of their own, Joe Tippmann.