It appears the New York Jets could again be without their starting running back this coming weekend. Interim head coach Jeff Ulbrich told reporters on Wednesday that Breece Hall is still dealing with the knee injury that kept him out of the team's Week 14 loss to the division rival Miami Dolphins.
Ulbrich said Hall is "still struggling a bit" with the knee injury, which is not improving as much as the team would like, via ESPN. The Jets coach added they were not considering shutting him down for the season just yet.
Hall has taken a step backward this season, averaging just 4.2 yards per carry compared with 4.5 last year and 5.8 (albeit in only seven games) during his rookie season. He's broken tackles less often and has not created as many explosive gains. He had been showing improvement in those areas prior to the injury, averaging at least 4.9 yards per carry in five consecutive games before going down.
Seeing the Jets got eliminated from the playoffs and are just playing out the string on the season and likely on the Aaron Rodgers era, it doesn't make much sense to rush Hall back onto the field -- especially considering that he has already dealt with a torn ACL during his young career.
With Braelon Allen and Isaiah Davis splitting the backfield in his absence, New York still got solid running back production against Miami (21 carries for 83 yards and a touchdown, plus seven catches for 65 yards), and the rookie duo could handle those duties for the remainder of the season and allow Hall to come back healthy next season as he heads into the final year of his rookie contract.
Given that New York did draft two backs in last year's draft, it would be reasonable to assume that Hall would be playing for a contract from another team throughout next season, and he'd likely want to be as healthy as possible to do that as well.
