The first three questions that Jets general manager Darren Mougey fielded after making his opening remarks at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis had to do with Breece Hall. And Mougey left no doubt what colors he wants the fifth-year running back to be wearing for the season ahead.
"Yeah, we'll find a way to keep Breece here if we can't get a deal done," Mougey said in response to question No. 2. No. 3 was if Hall felt the same way and the Jets GM felt that he did.
"I do, I do get the sense that Breece wants to be here," he said. "We've had good conversations throughout the season, after the season, so we'll just find a way to do that."
Returning to Question No. 2, Mougey's response had to do with applying either the Jets' franchise-player tag or transition-player tag to Hall by the deadline of March 3 at 4 p.m. ET. The franchise tag guarantees a player a one-year contract for the average of the top five RB salaries, while the transition tag guarantees a one-year contract for the average of the top 10 players at his position.
"The tags are an option," the now second-year GM said. "Ideally, we'd find a way to get a deal done and keep Breece around. I've said that for the last year since I got here. Breece is a good player and we want to find a way to keep him around .We've been going through that process and are still doing so. We have a week to find out, If we can't get to an agreement, which way we'll go with that tag."
Hall, the 36th overall pick of the 2022 NFL Draft, secured his first 1,000-yard rushing season in the '25 season finale at Buffalo in finishing with 1,065 yards at 4.4 yards/carry. And while his receiving numbers were down from his previous two seasons (36 catches, 350 yards), he still averaged a strong 9.7 yards/catch, which enabled him to post team-leading and career-high figures of 1,415 scrimmage yards and 57 first downs.
