If you’re looking for a reason to believe Breece Hall is in for a breakout season, just look at the conversation coming from the current New York Jets coaching staff versus the last one.

Near the end of the 2023 season, offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett acknowledged that it took him until halfway through that campaign to realize Hall was capable of making an impact as a pass catcher. Compare that to how Jets coach Aaron Glenn and offensive coordinator Tanner Engstrand are talking about Hall’s skills as a receiver. Since Glenn was hired in January, he’s emphasized the importance of getting Hall involved in the passing game.

“We’re going to open his game up quite a bit,” Glenn said. “He’s the type of guy you can split out wide and let him run the route tree, because he can run it like a receiver.”

That should be music to the ears of fantasy owners. Yes, a year ago, Hall might have burned anyone who spent a first-round pick on him. He averaged a career-low 4.2 yards per carry, only exceeded 100 rushing yards once and fumbled six times, losing two of them. Hall took a step back after a surprising 2023 campaign — surprising because it was his first season post-ACL surgery — during which he finished second among running backs in yards from scrimmage. He dropped to 14th in 2024.

Hall would be the first to acknowledge that he didn’t live up to his potential last season, and he has said as much. It would be unfair, though, to put his struggles entirely on his shoulders. Hall had to overcome a poorly operated offense overseen by Hackett, and a quarterback (Aaron Rodgers) who checked out of runs so often that the Jets were far and away last in the NFL in rushing attempts and percentage of rushing plays in the red zone.

They often abandoned the run early in games and didn’t get back to it, and the run blocking was poor for most of the season. It was an offensive line that wasn’t buying into the coaching methods of offensive line coach Keith Carter, and some of those linemen (like tackles Morgan Moses and Tyron Smith) were aging and not at their best.

There will be a few important differences to note for the 2025 season, beyond the part where the coaching staff seems to have a better grasp on how to use Hall in the passing game. This will be a run-heavy operation, a scheme Engstrand and Glenn brought over from the Detroit Lions. The Jets employ a dual-threat quarterback in Justin Fields, which should open things up for Hall, and there will be plenty of opportunities for touches considering they’re thin in passing-game talent aside from wide receiver Garrett Wilson.

The offensive line is much improved, with four of five starters (all under age 30 and three drafted recently in the first or second round) from the end of last season, and the fifth a promising rookie (Armand Membou) who could thrive at right tackle. The offensive line’s run blocking has looked dominant at times during training camp, and has shown that in the preseason and joint practices as well.

Of course, Hall will have to contend with second-year back Braelon Allen, who has been a star during training camp and looks to take on a much bigger role than he did as a rookie. But remember: Hall will be the primary pass catcher in terms of the running back room, and there will be plenty of touches to go around. The Jets view the Hall-Allen tandem as sort of a version of the Jahmyr Gibbs-David Montgomery one-two punch in Detroit.

A bonus: Hall is in a contract year and highly motivated to prove he deserves the level of contract that both James Cook and Kyren Williams recently signed.

“They’ve both done much more in this league than I have,” Hall said of Cook and Williams. “They’ve been in better situations, and they’re both very good players. I feel like I’m just as talented as anyone, but those are two really good running backs. They deserved their payday.”

Hall is about to have an opportunity to show he deserves one, too. And for fantasy owners, that could pay off.

(Photo: Justin Casterline / Getty Images)