If RB Breece Hall misses time because of a quad injury sustained late in last week's game at Detroit, the backfield spotlight will shift by necessity to Braelon Allen, Isaiah Davis and others when the Jets face their third straight NFC North opponent, the Bears in Chicago on Sunday.
"I've always prepared like I was going to be the lead guy," Allen said on Wednesday. "I think this year, Coach Frank [Reich] and [RB] Coach Nick [McKissic] put a lot of trust in me to be on the field. A lot of third-down situations and being able to put my pass protection skills on tape and being able to catch the ball a little bit more, and so there was already a little bit more on my plate than had been in the past few years. So honestly, nothing really changes for me in terms of preparation or my mindset. I've always prepared to be in that position." He added: "Isaiah's a very, very trustworthy player, and he was picking up the slack when I was out [with a knee injury] last year."
Through 3 games, Hall is the team's top rusher with 163 yards from 51 carries (3.2 per) and a TD. He carried 13 times for 32 yards before leaving the game late in the 31-24 loss to the Lions. Hall paced the Jets' strong ground game in the season opener at Tennessee, as the unit amassed 162 rush yards, of which Hall had 102. Since then, the ground game has been limited to 67 and 58 yards, respectively, as first the Packers and then the Lions threw resources into limiting the effectiveness of the Jets' offensive line.
"I've always said, with those three guys, man, listen, I'm good with any of them," Glenn said of his running backs during his press conference on Wednesday.
The Jets hit the practice field Wednesday ahead of their Week 4 game against the Bears at Soldier Field.
Since his 10 carries for 40 yards against the Titans in Week 1 (when he also had a 23-yard run to the end zone nullified by penalty), Allen, 22, has had an additional 9 carries in the past two games -- 5 vs. Green Bay, 4 vs. the Lions. As a rookie in 2004, the burly and powerful Allen (6-1, 235) carried 92 times for 334 yards and 2 TDs. His sophomore season was cut short by a knee injury in Week 4 that ended his season.
"Braelon, you know, I've been able to see him run close up for probably what four five years now," said Tippmann, who like Allen played in college at Wisconsin. "Just the way he's able to do it and then complements the way Isaiah runs."
The versatile Davis, 24, like Allen in his third season with the Green & White, had a strong 2025 season, though he's yet to log a carry so far in 2026. Last year, he had 43 carries for 236 yards (5.5 per). Career-wise, Davis (6-1, 220) has 73 attempts, 410 yards (5.6 per), 2 TDs while adding 30 receptions for 261 yards.
"When you have two good running backs like we have, and then you got the other skill players that we have, man, it's only one ball," Glenn said, addressing Davis' lack of carries. "But he's going to get his shot.
"He's been a huge part of what we do in special teams too - a huge part. He's going to continue to do that because that'd be a huge loss not to have it in that aspect. And he wants to make sure that he continues to play special teams. So, he'll just have a larger role when it comes to the offense."
In his three seasons, Davis has played a key role on special teams, having taken well over 500 snaps, 50 already this season.
The Jets will need Allen, Davis and others to produce while playing complementary football against the Bears to take some of the pressure off the back of QB Geno Smith.
"Very confident in those guys," Smith said Wednesday afternoon. "They've shown all along that they prepare well. They're playmakers with the ball in their hands, and looking forward to those guys going out there and executing their jobs, and all of us going out there playing together ... all 11 is one."
