Breece Hall has been playing through a knee injury for a couple of weeks now. Last week, against the Seahawks, Hall was noticeably favoring his injured knee. What is the latest on Hall’s status? Is he going to be able to play when the Jets take on the Dolphins in Week 14?
What Is Breece Hall’s Injury?
Hall is dealing with a knee injury. It’s something that has been bothering him for some time now, but it has yet to actually cost him any game action.
Hall was still able to play 62% of the snaps last week. However, that represents a significantly lower share than usual. He hadn’t been below 74% since Week 4, and his 62% in Week 13 was his lowest snap share of the season.
Will Breece Hall Play in Week 14?
Update: Breece Hall is out and will not play against the Dolphins. However, ESPN’s Adam Schefter provided some positive news, reporting that the Jets have no intention of shutting the young RB down for the year.
Despite the fact that running back Breece Hall was downgraded to out for Sunday’s game against the Dolphins due to a knee injury, the Jets have no plans to shut him down this season, per sources.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) December 8, 2024
Anyone watching the game last week could see Hall was far less than 100%. When not on the field, he was shown limping on the sideline.
The injury has been described as knee soreness, but it’s hard to believe there isn’t something more going on. Either way, the outlook on Hall for the rest of the season is not good.
Ahead of Week 13, Hall sat out Wednesday’s practice, which is no big deal. He returned on Thursday and Friday and wound up playing.
This week, Hall did not practice at all. In recent years, we have seen teams more willing to put players on the field on game day who haven’t practiced all week. Tony Pollard did it earlier this season. But that’s not going to happen with Hall.
The Jets initially listed Hall as doubtful, which has always frustrated me as both a fantasy player and a football fan. This year, exactly 0% of doubtful players have played. Doubtful = out. Teams should just list players as out. Fortunately, that’s exactly what the Jets did on Saturday.
We also learned a bit about the specifics of Hall’s knee injury. He’s dealing with an MCL issue in his left knee, which is the same one in which he tore his ACL two years ago.
RB Breece Hall has been ruled OUT by the Jets. Hall has a hyperextension/MCL issue in his left (surgically repaired) knee, per #Jets. CB Qwan’tez Stiggers also ruled out for tomorrow.
— Rich Cimini (@RichCimini) December 7, 2024
With the Jets mired in a lost season and Hall’s abilities not even a little bit in question, there’s no reason to push him out there at nowhere close to full strength.
Fantasy Implications of Hall’s Week 14 Status
Whenever a starting running back misses games, especially for the first time all season, it’s a big deal. Fantasy managers stash various handcuff running backs all the time. We just don’t always know how effective they will be if given an opportunity to start.
We know Braelon Allen is the direct backup to Hall and will start any games he misses. What we don’t know is whether the Jets would be willing to give Allen a similar workload. Color me skeptical.
Last week, the Jets elevated Isaiah Davis from the practice squad due to the uncertainty surrounding Hall’s status. Even though Hall played, Davis was active and actually got on the field for 12 snaps. Davis touched the ball on four of them, with three of those touches coming through the air.
My best guess is we see Allen as the bruiser back and Davis as the receiving back. Should the Jets find themselves in scoring position, we can reasonably project Allen to handle goal-line work. He is a viable, touchdown-based RB2 this week against a tough Dolphins defense allowing the ninth-fewest rushing yards per game and the seventh-fewest over the past three weeks. Davis is not startable but could end up being a thorn in Allen’s side.