Gang Green Nation
Breece Hall’s future with the New York Jets is unclear. He is in the final season of his four year rookie contract. He has become an object of trade deadline speculation, particularly after a cryptic recent post on social media.
On the field, Hall is having his best season since his stellar rookie campaign was cut short by a major knee injury. Hall is on pace for his first 1,000 yard rushing season on a robust 4.7 average per carry. Breece has always been a homerun hitter but has sometimes struggled with play to play consistency. This year, however, he has a 50% success rate as a runner for the first time since that rookie season of 2022.
Hall’s strengths and weaknesses are well-known by now. He has breakaway speed. If he gets the ball in space or the offensive line opens a large hole, he is dangerous. At 217 pounds, he is a big back who can run through arm tackles once he gets a head of steam.
What has held Hall back in terms of consistency? Well obviously he has spent much of his career on offenses with subpar infrastructures. There is one major issue with his game, though, that transcends his circumstances. Breece just isn’t great at reading blocks. He too frequently gets hesitant on plays where he has to make reads. This leads him to some slumps as he leaves yards on the field. Even at his size, playing with hesitancy can make it tough to break tackles.
Good coaching is all about putting players into situations that accentuate their strengths and minimize their weaknesses. With this in mind, the Jets should be looking to get the ball to Breece in space and outside. When he does run the ball between the tackles, it should be all downhill with minimum reads required.
That brings me to my main point.
The Jets entered this season presenting themselves as a smashmouth football team. The fullback is not a staple of many NFL offenses, but it might be a weapon the Jets consider using with Hall. What easier way to get Hall downhill quickly than to have him just follow a lead blocker?
The Jets have used the fullback sparingly with Breece. I count only 7 rushing attempts where the Jets had a two back personnel grouping that involved Hall following a lead blocker into his hole.
The results have been good, though. Hall has 41 yards on those 7 carries. In fact, those 7 carries account for 3 of his 14 runs to date that went for 10+ yards.
To put it another way, Hall has only been led by a fullback on 8% of his rushing attempts, but those account for 21% of his big runs.
Some of our savvier observers will note that one of these plays resulted in a critical fumble against the Cowboys. That’s a ball security issue, though. The blocking and running aspects of the play were successful.
I also know that 7...
