INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The New York Jets don’t plan to let running back Breece Hall hit the open market at the start of the league year, while the futures of other high-profile running backs such as Super Bowl MVP Kenneth Walker III and David Montgomery remain more uncertain.
Jets general manager Darren Mougey said Tuesday during the NFL scouting meeting that the team plans to use either the franchise tag or transition tag on Hall before the March 3 deadline.
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Hall would be guaranteed a salary of about $14.5 million next season with the franchise tag and about $11.7 million with the transition tag. Another team could sign Hall to an offer sheet, with the Jets having five days to match the offer or receive two first-round picks in compensation with a franchise tag or no compensation with a transition tag.
“Beacons are an option,” Mougey said. “Ideally we’ll find a way to make a deal to keep Breece. I think I’ve said that last year since I got here. Breece’s a good player, we want to find a way to keep him. We’ve gone through that process and still do and we have a week to find out if we can’t come to a deal, which way we’ll go.”
Hall was drafted in the second round in 2022. He had a career-high 1,065 yards last season for New York and ranks 12th in the NFL with 2,935 yards over the past three seasons.
Just one running back in the NFL is set to earn at least $14 million in cash next season, with 2024 AP NFL Offensive Player of the Year Saquon Barkley set to receive $16.75 million from the Philadelphia Eagles.
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Walker’s status is more uncertain after he capped his fourth NFL season by winning the Super Bowl MVP for Seattle when he ran for 135 yards in the win earlier this month against New England.
Walker is coming off his second career 1,000-yard rushing season and averaged 104.3 rushing yards per game in the playoffs when he showed he could carry a heavy load after Zach Charbonnet injured his knee in the divisional round.
General manager John Schneider declined Tuesday to answer whether the team would use a tag to keep Walker locked up until 2026.
“We would love to have Ken back, we would love to have everyone back,” Schneider said. “But he knows it better than anyone, it’s about our 70 people, our collective and what that’s going to look like. And we’ll have these meetings here. We’ll start, you know, talking to all the agents and, yeah, we’ll have a better idea of where we’re going to go towards the end of the week. But, obviously, we’d love that (having Walker back). When you get something special like that, let’s go back.”
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Montgomery is still under contract in Detroit through the 2027 season and is owed about $6 million in 2026, but he could be on the trade market as Jahmyr Gibbs has become the Lions’ star guard.
Montgomery, who turns 29 in June, is coming off a career-low 158 carries for 716 yards last season as Detroit’s offense revolved more around Gibbs, who is eligible for a contract extension this offseason.
Montgomery had 1,790 yards and 25 touchdowns in his first two seasons with the Lions as the team’s starter, but he came off the bench in all 17 games last season.
“I’ve been in contact with David’s agent, his representation,” Lions general manager Brad Holmes said. “We love David. He’s a great player. We’d love to have him. We’d like to kind of put last year behind us and just move forward. But, obviously, a player also has to want to be in a certain spot. So those conversations are always fluid and we’re just trying to see how it goes.”
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