Breece Hall and the Jets: Navigating the Tag Waters
The New York Jets are at a pivotal moment with their star running back, Breece Hall. With the NFL revealing the 2026 franchise and transition tag amounts, the Jets might have a clearer path to keeping Hall in their backfield.
The numbers are in, and they're slightly more favorable than initially expected. The franchise tag for running backs is set at $14.293 million, while the transition tag comes in at $11.323 million. These figures are a notch below the earlier projections of $14.5 million and $11.7 million, respectively.
At the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, Jets GM Darren Mougey shared the team's intentions. Mougey emphasized that tagging Hall is a real possibility if they can't lock down a long-term deal by the looming March 4 deadline.
"Yeah, the tags are an option," Mougey stated. "Ideally, we’d like to find a way to get a deal done and keep Breece around.
I’ve said that 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 figure it out."
Mougey’s commitment to retaining Hall is clear. "Yeah, we’ll find a way to keep Breece here if we can’t get a deal done," he asserted.
Despite some noncommittal comments from Hall, Mougey remains optimistic about Hall’s desire to stay with the Jets. "I do get the sense that Breece wants to be here," he said.
"We’ve had good conversations during the season, after the season. So, [we’re] just finding a way to do that."
If Hall is tagged with the $14.293 million franchise tag, he would rank fifth in cap hits among running backs for 2026. The $11.323 million transition tag would place him sixth.
The franchise tag would bind Hall to the Jets for another year, barring a holdout. Meanwhile, the transition tag offers the Jets a chance to save money but gives Hall the freedom to explore other offers, with the Jets retaining the right to match any deal.
As the deadline approaches, the Jets and Hall are in a dance of negotiations, with the franchise and transition tags providing both a safety net and a strategic tool in this high-stakes game.