Broncos Planned To Pursue Breece Hall

Franchising Hall all but guaranteed he will remain in a Jets uniform for a fifth season in 2026. No team is going to sign Hall to an offer sheet and give up two first-round picks for him. The transition tag would have given the Jets the right to match any offer, but they would not have received compensation had they let him go.

The Broncos were ready to strike in the event the Jets chose the transition tag. They remain “poised to make a splash” at the position in free agency, Jones writes.

Broncos general manager George Paton could have stolen Hall from former assistant GM Darren Mougey, who is now the Jets’ GM. Denver also has a key connection to Hall in running backs coach Louis Ayeni, Jones notes. As Iowa State’s RBs coach from 2014-17, Ayeni recruited Hall to play for the Cyclones.

With Hall out of the picture, the Broncos could turn their attention to Seahawks Super Bowl LX MVP winner Kenneth Walker III or the Jaguars’ Travis Etienne. Those two rank as the league’s best pending free agent running backs. The Panthers’ Rico Dowdle, the Falcons’ Tyler Allgeier, the Buccaneers’ Rachaad White and the Broncos’ own J.K. Dobbins are among other notable RBs seeking contracts.

Dobbins, a former Raven and Charger, joined the Broncos on a one-year, $5.25MM contract last offseason. He performed well as the Broncos’ primary ball carrier when healthy. Once again, though, staying healthy was a challenge for the oft-injured Dobbins. The 27-year-old rushed for 772 yards and four touchdowns on 153 attempts (5.0 YPC) in 10 games before a Lisfranc injury ended his season in November. Since entering the league in 2020, injuries have held Dobbins out of 57 games. That makes Dobbins hard to rely on as a go-to back, even though he has averaged 5.2 yards per rush on 582 carries.

Despite losing Dobbins just days after the Nov. 4 trade deadline, the Broncos won six of their last regular-season games to roll to an AFC West title and clinch the No. 1 seed in the conference. But their running game was less effective without Dobbins. Rookie second-rounder RJ Harvey combined for 12 touchdowns (seven rushing, five receiving) and caught 47 passes, but he only averaged 3.7 yards on 146 carries. He accounted for a subpar 57 rushing yards on 19 tries over the Broncos’ two playoff games. Harvey mustered just 37 yards on 13 attempts in a 10-7 loss to the Patriots in the AFC title game. That proved costly for a Denver team stuck with backup quarterback Jarrett Stidham, who could not get anything going through the air while filling in for an injured Bo Nix.

Harvey will return as an integral part of the offense in 2026, but it sounds as if he will pair with another established veteran in his second year. That may have been Hall if the Broncos had their way. They will have to look elsewhere instead.