Jets Lock Up Breece Hall With 3-Year, $45.75M Extension

The New York Jets held onto running back Breece Hall at last year's NFL trade deadline. Now, they'll be keeping him for the long haul.

Hall and the Jets agreed Friday to a three-year extension worth up to $45.75 million, according to a league source. The deal makes him the third-highest-paid running back in the NFL in average annual value, trailing only the Philadelphia Eagles' Saquon Barkley and the San Francisco 49ers' Christian McCaffrey.

There was a point last season when it seemed Hall no longer wanted to be a Jet — and that the team might include him in a trade-deadline fire sale that sent away Sauce Gardner, Quinnen Williams and Michael Carter II. Reports surfaced of an offer from the Kansas City Chiefs, but general manager Darren Mougey and coach Aaron Glenn ultimately valued Hall more than the offers on the table. That became clear when they placed the franchise tag on him ahead of free agency to avoid losing him for nothing — an easy decision for a team flush with cap space and lacking difference-making talents like Hall.

The Jets held off on contract negotiations after the tag, which would have paid him $14.3 million, to focus on the NFL Draft. Talks reignited over the past week, leading to this agreement. Notably, Mougey structured the contract — $29 million guaranteed, with no money guaranteed in the third year — to give the Jets flexibility if they decide to move on in a year or two. Mougey structured Gardner's extension similarly last offseason, ensuring minimal financial loss when the Jets traded him a few months after he signed.

Now Hall, coming off his first 1,000-yard rushing season in the NFL, is locked into an offensive skill group that looks more talented and multidimensional on paper than any the Jets have had in a long time. All key pieces are under contract beyond this year, including Hall, Garrett Wilson, Adonai Mitchell, Mason Taylor, and first-round rookies Kenyon Sadiq and Omar Cooper Jr.