The New York Jets took a cautious approach with Breece Hall to begin the season following a torn ACL he suffered in 2022. But in recent weeks, we’ve seen the second-year back look one hundred percent back from his knee ailment that cut his rookie campaign short.
In the season opener, Hall rushed for 127 yards on 10 attempts, while he also caught one pass for 20 yards. Hall was sharing the backfield workload with veteran Dalvin Cook, who the Jets signed in the offseason to help bring the former second-round pick along slowly in the first month of the season.
After an explosive outing in Week 1, Hall would total 83 rushing yards and zero touchdowns on 22 attempts from Weeks 2 through 4. He would also combine for only 22 receiving yards on four receptions in that span.
Upon playing the Kansas City Chiefs close in Week 4, Robert Saleh indicated that Hall would no longer be playing on a snap count. Saleh made it clear during the offseason that this was the plan the entire time in Hall’s recovery from a torn ACL.
With no snap count and fewer touches for Cook to hold him back, Hall exploded for 177 rushing yards and a touchdown on 22 attempts in Week 5 versus the Denver Broncos. Hall would follow that up with 93 scrimmage yards and a touchdown on 17 touches against a stout Philadelphia Eagles defense in Week 6.
On the season, Hall now has the second-most RYOE (rushing yards over expected) among running backs in the NFL this season with 170. Rookie De’Von Achane leads the league with an eye-popping 236 RYOE.
Hall has registered 2.7 yards after contact per attempt, putting him only behind Achane in that metric, as well. These are impressive numbers considering that teams are daring the Jets to throw the ball more with Zach Wilson under center.
Entering their bye week in Week 7, the Jets have to be ecstatic to see Hall looking explosive out of the backfield again. Coming out of the bye week, Hall will face the New York Giants, the Los Angeles Chargers, and the Las Vegas Raiders, who are all 16th or worse in run defense DVOA this season.
Hall has looked fantastic in the first six weeks and hopefully the Jets continue to lean on the dynamic back to finish the season.
