New York

Jets

It confirms one of the worst-kept secrets in the league after the Jets passed up on numerous other coordinator options to land on unheralded Brian Duker as their defensive coordinator. Glenn said “play calling is my superpower, really.” Well, it’s good to have one of those. We’ll see how it lasts with this Jets roster. It certainly can’t be worse than it was last year.

It sure seems like the Jets, who had offers to deal Hall for a fourth-round pick at the trade deadline, will simply stick with their back entering his age-25 season one way or another. It’ll be a boon for the other running backs on the free agent market to have Hall off the board early. The Jets seem likely to again focus on being a run-first offense given how weak their quarterback room is, so Hall should be a reasonable RB2 if he returns.

Cimini notes that this would be the ideal situation for the Jets, while also pointing out that Hall has “been dropping hints for months that he might want to move on” from Gang Green. Hall’s impending free agency includes a handful of scenarios that could play out. While he could re-sign with the Jets outright, it’s also possible the team lets him walk, uses the franchise tag to keep him in place and potentially buy time for a long-term deal or a trade, or they could use the transition tag which allows Hall to seek other deals while giving the Jets the right of first refusal to match any offer Hall may receive. Hall would be a coveted running back on the open market, and has bell cow back traits that allow him to stay on the field for all three downs. He’ll only be 25 at the start of this season, and has appeared in 16 or more games in each of the last three seasons since tearing his ACL as a rookie in 2022.

The 2026 transition tag for running backs is expected to fall between $11.5 million and $11.9 million. Applying this tag would allow Hall to shop the contract around the NFL. If another team ups the offer, the Jets will have the chance to match the new offer. Florio notes, however, if the Jets decline to match the new offer, Hall’s departure would not count toward the “next year’s slate of compensatory draft picks” because he is not leaving the team via the typical free agency fashion. If the Jets “catch wind” of a potentially serious suitor, they can rescind the transition tag before an official counteroffer is made, rendering Hall a free agent and restoring his compensatory pick viability.

Cimini connects these dots through new head coach Mike LaFleur, who coached Hall with the Jets. Arizona’s backfield is in a major state of flux after all of last season’s backs (James Conner, Trey Benson, Zonovan Knight) suffered season-ending injuries. It’s a vacuum where Hall would make sense. Cimini believes the Jets would like to extend Hall before he hits the open market, but may wind up using the franchise or transition tags instead — or on the way to — a deal.

Fields would incur a $22 million dead cap hit and save the Jets only $1 million against the cap if released, and yet Rosenblatt still believes that is a likely scenario because the Jets are not lacking for cap space. Fields would likely find backup work somewhere if released, but the Jets runout appears likely to have been his final chance to cut it as a starter in the NFL. Rosenblatt also notes that it’s unlikely any team would trade for Fields at this point.

Rosenblatt added that “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.” Hall is among the players likely to be tagged in the coming weeks to prevent him from exploring free agency and leaving a Jets team from which he has grown distant in recent years. Last year after the Jets completed a fire sale of their top players, Hall’s social media posts strongly implied he wanted out of New York. Rosenblatt said it’s “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.” Hall, who will be 25 in May, has averaged 60.7 rushing yards per game and 29.4 receiving yards over 56 appearances for the Jets since 2022. Last year he notched a career high receiving success rate. He eclipsed 100 rushing yards in just four games.

Musgrave has coordinator experience with the Panthers, Jaguars, Vikings, Raiders, and Broncos. The 58-year-old has not called NFL plays since 2018 and has spent the last three years with the Browns. He’ll be another voice in Frank Reich’s room as the Jets try to turn their offense away from the abyss.

NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reports Slowik will coach the safety group while The Athletic’s Zack Rosenblatt reports Slowik will serve as the Jets’ defensive pass game coordinator. We suspect he is accepting both roles. Slowik spent the past four seasons rapidly rising through the Dolphins’ coaching ranks, serving as a senior defensive assistant (2022), outside linebackers coach (2023) and defensive backs coach and pass game specialist (2024-2025). Perhaps unsurprisingly, Rapoport reports that “other NFL teams have looked at Slowik as a future defensive coordinator.”

New Jets OC Frank Reich “has a close relationship with Eagles coach Nick Sirianni” and McKee “fits the physical mold of a Reich QB” per Rosenblatt. Rosenblatt also links the Jets to Geno Smith (if released), Jacoby Brissett and Kirk Cousins. McKee would be an interesting trade target after a couple of spot starts in Week 18 the past few years. He’s entering the final year of his rookie contract in 2026 and would probably cost the Jets at least a Day 2 pick, but it would undoubtedly be a higher-upside play than relying on Smith or Cousins.