The New York Jets held a fire sale at the Nov. 4 trade deadline last season. All-Pro cornerback Sauce Gardner was shipped off to Indianapolis, and All-Pro defensive tackle Quinnen Williams was traded to the Dallas Cowboys.
The Jets drew the line at running back Breece Hall.
At the time, ESPN’s Nate Taylor reported that the closest the Kansas City Chiefs came to making a trade at the deadline was for Hall, a second-round pick out of Iowa State in the 2022 NFL Draft, but “negotiations between the teams broke down over the compensation for Hall.” Taylor added, “The Chiefs offered a 2026 fourth-round pick for the 24-year-old, who the source says wanted to join another team after fellow teammates cornerback Sauce Gardner and defensive tackle Quinnen Williams were traded Tuesday. The Jets, though, wanted a 2026 third-round pick.”
That appears to have been the Chiefs’ or any team’s best chance to acquire Hall.
“The tags are an option,” Jets general manager Darren Mougey told reporters at the 2026 NFL Combine in Indianapolis on Tuesday. “Ideally, we’d find a way to get a deal done and keep Breece around. I think I’ve said that for the last year since I got here. Breece is a good player. I want to find a way to keep him around.”
The deadline to apply the franchise or transition tag is Monday, March 3, at 4 p.m. EST.
Mougey’s statement echoes what head coach Aaron Glenn said after the team declined to trade Hall last November.
“Breece was not a guy I wanted to get rid of,” Glenn said, according to The Athletic‘s Zack Rosenblatt. “He’s a damn good player. Any of those [reports] that came out, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Hall commented on the swirling rumors surrounding him over the weekend. “I’m just where my feet are and letting God and my agent handle everything else,” he told The New York Post. “I feel like my play speaks for itself, considering the situations I’ve been in the last few years. I’m gonna get everything that’s coming to me, so I’m not too worried about it.”
Hall showed flashes of high potential through his first seven games of his rookie season. He recorded 463 yards and four touchdowns on 80 carries (5.8 yards per attempt), and he proved to be a productive, reliable receiver. Then, Hall tore his ACL on Oct. 23, 2022. He played all 17 regular-season games the following season, tallying 994 yards and five touchdowns on the ground to go along with 591 yards and four touchdowns receiving. That production carried over into 2024: 876 yards and five touchdowns rushing, 483 yards and three touchdowns receiving.
Hall logged his first career 1,000-yard season last year. Across 16 games, he rushed for 1,065 yards on 243 attempts, which is good for 4.4 yards per attempt, and four touchdowns. The Jets finished with an NFL-worst 3-14 record.
ESPN’s Bill Barnwell ranked Hall as the top running back free agent. Barnwell projected Hall would garner between $12 million and $15 million if he were to hit the open market. The running back franchise tag will be around $14.5 million, and the transition tag around $11.7 million.
Barring a drastic change of heart from Mougey and the Jets, none of that will apply to Hall’s future. Instead, he will be a key piece in the Jets’ seemingly never-ending rebuild.
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