Gang Green Nation
The Jets made a few moves at the trade deadline that were stunning. But perhaps the most stunning move was the one they didn’t make. After trading franchise cornerstones under contract for the long term in Sauce Gardner and Quinnen Williams, it didn’t make much sense at all that the Jets would hang on to free-agent-to-be Breece Hall.
After all, the Jets aren’t going anywhere this year. They’re 2-8, and their offense just hasn’t been anywhere near competitive. That’s not Hall’s fault, as he’s having one of the best seasons of his career this year, averaging 4.8 yards per carry, best since his rookie year, and he’s taken nearly double the handoffs this year. He’s on pace for 1,227 rushing yards and 384 receiving yards on top of that. Hall’s receiving yards per game is the worst of his career despite his second-best yards per reception mark. He’s averaging a career low 3.3 targets per game, which is contributing to that in a major way. Point being, Hall is having a career year, and with more targets in the passing game, would likely be on pace to break 2,000 all-purpose yards.
So why wouldn’t the Jets move him at the deadline? Especially after he reportedly demanded a trade:
The answer is simple. The Jets view Breece Hall as part of the long term solution. According to Rich Cimini of ESPN the Jets are planning to keep Hall around into the future. Cimini reports, “By all indications, the Jets want to keep him after he drew heavy interest at the trade deadline… As always, it will come down to the money. Hall could be looking for a deal around $10 to $12 million per year. The franchise tag projects at $14 million.”
As Cimini points out, the Jets can keep Hall for at least one more year if they want him bad enough. The franchise tag would keep Hall with the Jets at a $14 mil cap hit. That would make Hall the 4th highest paid RB in the NFL, tied with Jonathan Taylor and behind only Derrick Henry, Christian McCaffrey, and Saquon Barkley. Is that too steep for Hall?
Well, before we even think about that, we should talk about the $10-12 million mark Cimini also mentioned. At $11 million, splitting the difference here, Hall would be the 8th highest-paid running back. That seems right on par for Hall’s value.
It’s in vogue to not pay running backs right now. And it makes sense for the most part. But Hall is one of the only reasons the Jets offense is functional. And given that the Jets are likely to add a rookie QB to their roster and have nearly $100 million in cap space next year, extending Hall would seem a logical move.
