A wise man once said, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”
Last year, New York Jets star Breece Hall was ranked as the second-best running back in football and the No. 1 running back under the age of 25 by ESPN. Fast forward a year, and Hall has fallen out of those same rankings completely.
On Monday, July 7, ESPN NFL Insider Jeremy Fowler released his annual top 10 positional rankings based on conversations with scouts, coaches, and league execs.
Hall was thrown in the honorable mention section at the bottom of the article in 2025.
“He’s been one of the best in the league at points. I just haven’t felt the same way recently. I know the injuries have been an issue,” an anonymous NFL coordinator explained to Fowler.
“That’s not all his fault. He was in a bad offense. Still has good lower-body balance and home run juice,” an anonymous veteran AFC personnel executive told Fowler.
Insider Explains What Went Wrong With Hall, How He Can Bounce Back
After the Monday column was released, ESPN published another article revealing who fell out of the top 10 rankings from 2024 to 2025.
The first name mentioned on this list was Hall, who went from the No. 2-ranked running back in football to off the list entirely a year later.
“Hall was second behind only the 49ers’ Christian McCaffrey on last year’s list, but took a step back in rushing yards (876), catches (57), and touchdowns (8) as the Aaron Rodgers-led Jets offense failed to ignite. Hall, 24, looks poised for a bigger role and potentially a better season in 2025,” Fowler wrote for ESPN.
Is Hall just not the player people thought he was coming out of college? Has he just been a good player in a bad situation that the mediocre coaching staff and talent around him have sabotaged?
The truth shall set Hall free in 2025.
Excuses Are Over for Hall, It’s Put up or Shut up Time
The former Iowa State product is as motivated as he could be heading into a season. No, not because he was ranked in a different place in one year’s list versus another. It’s because Hall is entering the final year of his rookie contract.
Hall is scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent in 2026.
There are plenty of things that should benefit Hall this year for the Jets. He is playing with a dual-threat quarterback in Justin Fields. He has a new offensive coordinator with a run-oriented scheme taking over play-calling duties.
“We are doing a lot of read options & RPOs which sometimes it sucks but sometimes it works really well,” Hall told Jets team reporter Caroline Hendershot.
Breece Hall gave a sneak peek of what we will see in the #Jets offense in 2025:
‘We are doing a lot of read options & RPOs which sometimes it sucks but sometimes it works really well.’ 🤣
🎥 @nyjets #JetUp pic.twitter.com/20BInf5m5Y
— Paul Andrew Esden Jr (@BoyGreen25) July 4, 2025
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
When those read options and RPO plays are happening, occasionally Fields will keep the ball for himself. However, the overall benefits of the offensive game plan will still favor Hall. Defenders will have to respect Fields’ abilities as a runner; if they don’t, he will make them pay. Once he hurts them a few times, that is going to open things up even more for Hall.
If Hall wants to be considered and paid among the top running backs in the league then he will have to prove he’s worthy of that praise in 2025.
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