Every year in the NFL we see a fresh slate of names that are said to be ‘on the hot seat’. This can be anyone from players to coaches and general managers, anyone who faces mounting pressure to perform better than ever before.

Bill Barnwell, an NFL analyst for ESPN, recently compiled his list of 15 people in the NFL who are facing the most pressure in the 2025 season, and New York Jets running back Breece Hall made the cut. Hall, the 36th overall pick of the 2022 NFL draft, exploded onto the NFL scene as a rookie, putting up 463 yards in just seven games, but an ACL tear ended his season far too soon. Since then, his efficiency has only gone down every year.

Justifying Hall’s inclusion on his list, Barnwell writes, “If [running backs are] not keeping the offense on schedule, they need to create big plays. Hall has just eight carries of 20 yards or more in 32 games since the first game of the 2023 season, which is one more than Gus Edwards, who did that with far fewer carries and is currently a free agent. Hall is a better player than Edwards and offers more as a receiver, but with former New York general manager Joe Douglas and coach Robert Saleh no longer in the building, the people who drafted him aren’t around and incentivized to give him a new deal. If he’s just an average back or worse, the Jets will be better off spending their money elsewhere.”

What Barnwell said may sound unfair, but he’s right. The NFL is a cold world, especially for running backs, and if a player isn’t earning his keep then that player will not be kept. Hall brings a lot of potential to the table and we’ve seen him play like a Top 5 back, but not nearly recent enough nor often enough to justify a contract extension just yet. Garrett Wilson and Ahmad “Sauce” Gardner, also from the 2022 draft class, both got paid this offseason, but they’re both bona fide superstars.

Hall needs a career year as much as anyone else on the roster, and it doesn’t help that second-year player Braelon Allen is popularly picked by analysts as a breakout candidate. What does help, however, is an improved offensive line and the presence of quarterback Justin Fields.

An explosive running quarterback like Fields will siphon off some of Hall’s carries this year, but his mere presence on the field makes defenses think twice before selling out to stop the running back, which means Hall should get better looks with the ball in his hands and more opportunities to put up explosive plays.