Examining Braelon Allen's Outlook If Breece Hall Misses Extended Time

With New York's RB1 potentially missing some time, here's what the future could hold for Allen.

Third-year Jets RB Braelon Allen just became a lot more important after Breece Hall's exit from Monday's practice. | USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Connect

A lot of eyes have been on fifth-year running back Breece Hall after signing a three-year, $45.75 million contract extension with the Jets in May. The 25-year-old star runner is coming off his first 1,000-yard campaign, and hope among Jets fans is that the best is yet to come and that Hall's newly bloated bank account will motivate him to take an even bigger step this fall.

That's why Monday's injury update was absolutely crushing. Hall exited practice with a right groin strain, going down without suffering any contact.

Although head coach Aaron Glenn quickly provided an update, stating that he isn't too worried about the RB1's injury, that doesn't change the fact that the Jets will likely be without Hall for the foreseeable future. An MRI in the coming days will further shed light on Hall's situation and any potential time he could miss.

It will be interesting to see how much time Breece Hall will miss, as well as how the Jets will navigate his absence. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Hall missing more time than expected wouldn't be ideal, but it is an opportunity for Braelon Allen to step up and prove to the Jets what he can do.

Braelon Allen could become more important for Jets if Breece Hall misses time

A player's outlook can change depending on how they react when confronted with adversity. Depending on how much time Hall misses, it could be the ideal opportunity for Allen to prove himself to the Jets.

Of course, New York has some idea of what the 22-year-old RB can do at this stage of his NFL career. A season-ending MCL injury limited him to 58 offensive snaps over four games in 2025, but that didn't stop Allen from showcasing his talent, averaging 4.2 yards and scoring a touchdown on 18 carries. He continued to impress fans and experts with a strong performance early in training camp and even received a positive review from Glenn.

(Braelon is) everything I imagined from a RB of that size. 240 lbs, has good speed, can catch the ball in the backfield.

Aaron Glenn on Braelon Allen

An impressive training camp showing was enough for Jets fans to wonder if a bigger role was in store for Allen moving forward. He gave that argument even more credence during the Jets' 24-16 preseason loss to the Buccaneers on Friday, rushing for 44 yards and a touchdown on four carries. Even though it was "only" an exhibition game, averaging 11.0 yards per carry is nothing to sneeze at—and that's without mentioning that his TD came on a 31-yard blast.

Braelon Allen 31-yard TD run pic.twitter.com/rGTBNt8ngw

— Underdog NFL (@UnderdogNFL) August 14, 2026

Allen's showing against the Buccaneers was already great evidence to increase his touches, and now Hall's injury adds another layer to that possibility.

Regardless of how severe Hall's injury is, the Jets will want to be as careful as possible with him before their Week 1 showdown with the Titans. That means limiting how much action he sees in practice and the preseason, possibly shutting him down altogether before September if that's what it takes to protect his health.

Allen is more than capable of leading a backfield, as he tallied 11-plus carries three times back in his rookie season. Those instances total 130 rushing yards and a touchdown on 34 carries, which would put him on pace for 192 carries, 736 yards, and six touchdowns in a 17-game season. Those would be fantastic RB2 numbers.

Giving Allen an expanded role would also allow the Jets to ease Hall back into the RB1 job once he returns. The 25-year-old rusher averaged 17.4 touches per game—including a career-high 15.2 carries per outing—which could be a huge workload to immediately return to. Instead, the Jets can put some of those carries on Allen's plate until Hall is ready to take them back.

Yes, New York still has Isaiah Davis (dealing with a knee injury), Sam Scott, Kene Nwangwu and Chip Trayanum around to help, too, but none have as much upside as Allen.

Moving forward...

The Jets' next opportunity to see what Allen is capable of in a bigger role will come against the Steelers in Week 2 of the preseason. Pittsburgh had a strong defensive performance in head coach Mike McCarthy's debut, holding the Packers' offense to a puny 63 rushing yards on 24 attempts.

If Allen can find a way to prevent the Steelers from having an encore performance, the Jets will have even more reasons to highlight him during the regular season.

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