Heading into the 2025 season, the Jets have made a series of moves to improve the state of their roster and overall depth, but are they ready to compete for a playoff spot?
In this series, we’ll break down the depth chart for every position group. This time, we’ll go in-depth at the running back position…
Projected depth chart
Starters: Breece Hall
Backups: Braelon Allen, Isaiah Davis, Kene Nwangwu, Donovan Edwards
Key additions/losses: Edwards was signed as an undrafted free agent
Top Performers in 2024: Hall — 876 rushing yards and five touchdowns, 57 receptions for 483 yards and another three touchdowns
2024 ranking via PFF: Hall — 39th of 57 qualifiers for rush grade
What Jets’ running backs have going for them
Hall is a productive back with an excellent all-round skill set, which saw him lead the NFL in receptions by a running back in 2023. He can handle a heavy workload and led the Jets in total touchdowns in each of his first three seasons — even his rookie year which saw him miss the last 10 games due to injury.
The Jets added to their depth last year by drafting Allen and Davis, each of whom had some good moments backing up Hall last year. Beyond those two, Kene Nwangwu has a chance to make the team based on his special teams contributions alone, but undrafted rookie Donovan Edwards could be a wild card.
Key concern for 2024: Can Hall prove he’s consistent enough to earn a long-term deal?
The former second-round pick Hall is entering the final year of his rookie deal, and the Jets have yet to give any indication that they are inclined to give him the big-money extension he is likely to be seeking.
Despite his production, there remains a sense that Hall is capable of more, but he will need to post the best numbers of his career to prove himself worthy of being paid like other top backs from around the league.
Hall’s consistency let him down last season as he fumbled six times, which was more than every other NFL running back apart from Rhamondre Stevenson. He also dropped eight passes, which was tied for the league lead at his position.
Unless he can improve upon that, the Jets may feel that another player or combination of players could approximate the same kind of production without the need to devote as much in terms of financial resources to the position.
New York Jets running back Braelon Allen (0) carries the ball during the first half against the Washington Commanders at MetLife Stadium / Vincent Carchietta – USA TODAY Sports
Player who must step up in 2024: Allen
Allen is a powerful athlete, who should’ve been an ideal complement to Hall off the bench last year.
The season began well for him, as he had two touchdowns including the game-winner in week two against the Titans and then racked up 68 yards from scrimmage to help the Jets beat New England in the following game.
However, his production and playing time tailed off after that. He averaged less than four yards per carry in 12 of the last 13 games and was surprisingly ineffective in short yardage situations.
There seemed to be a lot of plays where he almost broke a nice run only to be tripped in the hole or at the second level, so he needs to improve his awareness and contact balance.
Allen is still only 21, so the Jets will be hopeful he isn’t the finished article yet, but they will need to see better production from him if he is going to justify regular playing time.
Biggest camp battle: Allen vs. Davis
The number two role could be up for grabs as Davis outshined Allen over the second half of the season. He averaged an impressive 5.8 yards per carry as he had eight runs of 10 yards or more in just 30 carries. Allen had just five in 92 carries.
Davis was also productive on special teams as he had contributed well in kick coverage, the return game and as a blocker. Allen doesn’t bring the same kind of value on special teams, so that might ironically end up working against Davis playing an increased role on offense.
Interestingly, in the one game Hall missed due to injury last season, Allen and Davis both got plenty of playing time and produced well as a tandem. Allen had 81 yards from scrimmage on 15 touches, while Davis had 67 yards and a touchdown on 13 touches in the team’s overtime loss to Miami.
Overall 2025 outlook
We can again expect Hall to get the lion’s share of the workload in the running game, and plenty of action in the passing game as well. If he can cut out some of the mistakes from last year, he should have a big year and then the Jets will face a dilemma in terms of whether they should lock him up to a big deal or try to save money by replacing him with someone cheaper.
Davis and Allen will get a chance to impress over the course of the season, and if either of them breaks out and proves themselves potentially worthy of graduating to a starter role in 2026, then this will give the Jets even more to think about.
