Earlier this week, the New York Jets made the decision to place their franchise tag on running back Breece Hall. The move came amid contract negotiations between Hall and the Jets, as the team hopes to keep arguably its best offensive player around for the long term.
Now, more information is coming to light on how another team in the league essentially forced New York's hand on using the franchise tag on Hall, per Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports.
“Denver is the reason why the Jets used the franchise tag on Breece Hall rather than the transition tag, according to sources, making sure Denver wouldn't get the opportunity to put together an offer the Jets would refuse to match,” noted Jones, who also reported that the Broncos were looking to “make a splash” at the running back position this offseason.
Jones also pointed out an interesting wrinkle in the situation involving the Jets and Broncos.
“Jets GM Darren Mougey came from Denver, while Broncos running backs coach Louis Ayeni identified Hall as a high school prospect years ago and recruited him to Iowa State before Ayeni left Ames for Northwestern and eventually the NFL,” he noted.
Hall certainly has a great deal of interest around the league, turning himself into one of the best running backs in the league over the last couple of seasons in New York, and still just 24 years of age.
New York has many reasons to want to keep the young star around, none bigger than the fact that the team has been bleeding talent at an alarming rate over the last few months, having dealt two of their key defensive pieces in Quinnen Williams and Sauce Gardner at the trade deadline this past season.
In any case, the NFL free agency period is slated to open up on March 11.
