The clock is officially ticking for Breece Hall and the New York Jets. On Tuesday, the window officially opens for teams to place the franchise tag on impending free agents — that window closes on March 3. If Hall isn’t tagged by the Jets by then, they’ll have until March 11 to sign him to a contract or he’ll become an unrestricted free agent and the rest of the NFL will be free to try to sign him.

The winds have been blowing in the direction of the Jets tagging Hall since the trade deadline, when general manager Darren Mougey resisted overtures from other teams, including the Kansas City Chiefs, who, per ESPN, offered a fourth-round pick.

At that time, there was a feeling coming out of the Jets building that they weren’t going to force anything, even if Hall didn’t want to return in 2026, because they would have the ability to use the tag. Three months later, where do the Jets stand now?

Let’s run through their options when it comes to using (or not using) the franchise tag, how much it would cost and what each decision would mean for their offseason plans:

The Jets’ options?

In terms of tags, the Jets have three options to choose from:

• The non-exclusive franchise tag. This one would allow Hall to sign an offer sheet with another team, giving the Jets the option of matching the offer or receiving two first-round draft picks in compensation if they opt to let him leave for the offering team. This is the most common type of tag. The one-year tender for running backs on this tag is projected to be $14.536 million, per OverTheCap. That would be Hall’s hit on the Jets’ cap sheet until (or unless) he signs a new contract.

• The exclusive franchise tag. This tag would make it so Hall is unable to receive offer sheets from any team other than the Jets, who would hold exclusive negotiating rights with him. The tender is also worth a projected $14.536 million on this tag.

• The transition tag. This tag operates similarly to the non-exclusive tag in that Hall can negotiate with other teams, the difference being the price of the tender on this tag (projected to be $11.728 million, per OverTheCap) and how there is no draft pick compensation involved if the Jets opt to not match another team’s offer. The Jets do get the right of first refusal and can trade Hall on this tag.

If the Jets use any of these three tags, the deadline to come to an agreement on a new contract with Hall is July 15 — after that point, Hall’s only option would be to sign the one-year tender or hold out.

What is the Jets’ history with the franchise tag?

The Jets have used tags a handful of times over the years. In 1994, they used the transition tag on wide receiver Rob Moore, and then the franchise tag in 1995 (when they tagged him and then subsequently traded him to the Arizona Cardinals).

In 2006, the Jets franchise-tagged defensive end John Abraham and traded him to the Atlanta Falcons a month later.

In 2011, linebacker David Harris was franchise-tagged and then signed a new four-year contract just before the season.

In 2014, kicker Nick Folk was franchise-tagged and signed a new deal shortly after.

In 2016, defensive end Muhammad Wilkerson was franchise-tagged and later signed a five-year deal.

And in 2021, safety Marcus Maye was tagged and then played that season on his franchise tender. He left as a free agent in 2022.

As for running backs across the NFL, the last backs to receive the tag were Tony Pollard (Dallas Cowboys), Josh Jacobs (Las Vegas Raiders) and Saquon Barkley (New York Giants) in 2023. All three signed the tender and then left as free agents a year later.

Why tag Hall?

There are a few reasons the Jets might (and probably will) tag Hall before free agency.

First, the feeling is that Hall would like to test free agency. At the deadline, there were rumblings that Hall would have preferred to be traded once Sauce Gardner and Quinnen Williams were shipped out the door. Hall did nothing to help himself in that regard with his vague social media posts — including the time he punctuated an Instagram post with “#Free20.” (His explanation a few days later didn’t make a whole lot of sense: “It’s referencing, like, being in the moment, being in the game,” Hall said. “I’m ready for whatever.”)

It was also notable that in a year in which Hall surpassed 1,000 rushing yards — the first time a Jet has done that since 2015 — he did not win Team MVP, an award voted on by his teammates. That award instead went to punt returner Isaiah Williams.

Second, if Hall does make it to free agency, he’s expected to be a hot commodity. He’s largely considered the top free agent at his position at a time when running backs are regaining value. Kenneth Walker III (also set to be a free agent, though unlikely to break free) just won Super Bowl MVP a year after the Philadelphia Eagles rode Barkley (a high-priced free-agent signing) to a title. Ashton Jeanty went sixth in last year’s draft, and Jeremiyah Love could go similarly high in April. When The Athletic releases its Top 150 free-agent rankings later this week, Hall will be near the top — regardless of his position.

Hall ranked 10th in scrimmage yards among running backs in 2025, ninth in explosive plays (rushes of 12 or more yards and catches of 16 or more yards), and he had the best third-down conversion rate of all running backs with at least 100 carries. He did struggle down the stretch, and it’s not like he dominated across the board — he ranked just 40th in EPA per rush and 36th in percentage of rushes for zero or negative yards. Still, it was more good than bad.

And that gets to the third reason why: If Hall is such a hot commodity, the Jets should not simply be letting him walk out the door when they can either bring him back and move him at the 2026 trade deadline, or tag him and trade him now. But beyond trade value, the Jets simply shouldn’t be letting top talent walk out the door.

Hall is far from a perfect running back and is undoubtedly not in the same tier as backs such as Barkley, Christian McCaffrey, Derrick Henry, Bijan Robinson, Jahmyr Gibbs and others of that ilk. But he’s still a high-level, explosive, impactful player, and the Jets don’t have many of those. They have too many needs in other places — quarterback, wide receiver, defensive end, defensive tackle, linebacker, safety and cornerback — to create another hole by letting Hall leave.

The Jets are currently projected for $79.7 million in cap space, per Over the Cap, and can afford to absorb the hit of whichever version of the tag they would choose to use.

It’s unclear how interested Mougey and the Jets would be in signing Hall to a long-term deal, so the tag — or a short-term contract for one or two years, making Hall one of the highest-paid running backs in the NFL — would be an appealing route to take.

“Breece is a good player. I want as many good players back as we can,” Mougey said in January. “We’ll go through this process and we’ll see how free agency unfolds, but we want to add good players.”

What would a contract extension look like?

Hall will almost certainly end this process as one of the 10 highest-paid running backs in the NFL. Barkley is the highest-paid at $20.6 million per year, McCaffrey is second at $19 million, Henry is third at $15 million, Jonathan Taylor is at $14 million, Alvin Kamara is at $12.25 million, Jacobs is at $12 million, James Cook is at $11.5 million and Kyren Williams is at $11 million. Williams and Cook were in Hall’s draft class and signed their new contracts last offseason.

If Hall hit the open market, he’d probably fall in the range of $11 million to $14 million per season, which is what the Jets would have to offer him.

What could the Jets get in a trade?

If a fourth-round pick wasn’t enough at the deadline, it probably wouldn’t be enough now either. Some notable examples of running back trades from recent years included the Detroit Lions trading D’Andre Swift and a seventh-round pick to the Eagles for a seventh-round pick and a future fourth-round pick in 2023, and the Carolina Panthers trading McCaffrey to the San Francisco 49ers for a second-, third-, fourth- and fifth-round pick in 2022.

In terms of tag-and-trades over the years, the Green Bay Packers tagged Davante Adams and then traded him to the Raiders for first- and second-round picks. In 2020, the Jacksonville Jaguars traded defensive end Yannick Ngakoue to the Minnesota Vikings for second- and fifth-round picks.

What are the Jets’ RB options beyond Hall?

This is actually not a terrible offseason to need a running back — though, as mentioned, the Jets have so many other needs that they should be focusing their attention elsewhere.

Beyond Hall and Walker, some of the other top backs scheduled for free agency:

Travis Etienne, Jaguars: Extremely fast and productive (three 1,000-yard seasons in four years) with some skills as a pass-catcher.

Javonte Williams, Cowboys: Coming off a breakout season (1,201 rushing yards, 13 total touchdowns); Mougey was in Denver when Williams was drafted there.

Rico Dowdle, Panthers: Back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons.

Rachaad White, Buccaneers: Skilled pass-catcher (averages 51 receptions per season) but not especially consistent as a runner.

J.K. Dobbins, Broncos: Injury-prone but productive when healthy.

Tyler Allgeier, Falcons: Imposing zone runner who’s more of a short-yardage specialist than full-time back.

Kenneth Gainwell, Steelers: Skilled pass-catcher and productive as a runner in spurts but has never been a No. 1 back.

Brian Robinson Jr., 49ers: Hard-nosed runner, productive in the past with Washington Commanders, played well as a backup to McCaffrey last year.

There have also been rumblings that the Lions could look to move David Montgomery, who Aaron Glenn knows well from their time together in Detroit.

In the NFL Draft, Love is a likely top-10 pick. Other interesting prospects in later rounds include Notre Dame’s Jadarian Price, Nebraska’s Emmett Johnson, Washington’s Jonah Coleman, Indiana’s Roman Hemby and Wake Forest’s Demond Claiborne.

What will happen?

Mougey, Glenn and Hall’s agents will all be in Indianapolis for the NFL Combine next week. This is typically where deals happen — or fall apart, and where teams talk to each other about trades. If the Jets don’t know exactly what they want to do yet, they’ll have a better idea coming out of Indianapolis.

Right now, it feels likely that the Jets slap Hall with the non-exclusive franchise tag or the transition tag and then figure something out from there. Doing that would allow them to either negotiate a new deal with Hall, force him to sign the tender (or hold out), or allow them to see if they can reel in another starting-caliber running back elsewhere in free agency before making a decision on him.

It would be bad business to simply let Hall leave without a fight.