Jets offensive coordinator Tanner Engstrand has shown one major red flag so far

Evaluating an offensive coordinator can be a difficult task. Stats, rankings, and advanced metrics are all heavily influenced by the performance of the players on the field. Bill Walsh could've been the New York Jets' offensive coordinator during the Zach Wilson years, and the offense still would've been a bottom-ranked unit.

On the flipside, Peyton Manning's excellence made folks think that Adam Gase was an offensive genius. We all know how that turned out.

Watching the film can help us glean how much of an offense's struggles are on the players versus how much responsibility should fall on the play caller's shoulders.

However, sometimes the stats can tell us something, and while there's been a lot to like about Tanner Engstrand so far, there's a set of numbers that are concerning, and it all has to do with Breece Hall.

Tanner Engstrand's inability to get Breece Hall consistently involved in the Jets' passing game is concerning

Hall's 2024 performance in the passing game wasn't a very pretty one. There was a lot at play there, with the toxicity around the team, Aaron Rodgers' never-ending drama, and the early ejection button being pushed on Robert Saleh. Still, Hall tied with Tony Pollard for the league lead in drops with eight.

We've since learned that he dealt with a serious knee injury, and he came in this year motivated to get back on track. For the most part, he has. In the running game.

Throughout the 2024 malaise, it's become easy to forget that previously Hall had been an elite pass-catching back. During his rookie season, he averaged a ridiculous 11.5 yards per reception and was a threat to take it to the house every time he caught the ball in open space.

In 2023, he led the league in receiving yards by a running back with 591 and also posted the position's highest PFF receiving grade, 88.9. He was also the league's most targeted running back with 90, and led in receptions with 76, throwing in four receiving touchdowns for good measure.

In 2025, he's recaptured a lot of the same magic. Hall is averaging 10.3 yards per catch, good for fourth in the league among running backs (min. 20 targets). Jets' quarterbacks have a 115.8 rating when targeting him, which is the seventh-best mark in the NFL. He's fifth in receiving yards with 309. He's only dropped one pass all season.

Yet, he ranks 19th in targets with 33. That's an average of just 2.75 targets per game. Of those 33 targets, 17 came in a three-week span between Weeks 5 and 7. That means that over the other nine games, Hall averaged just 1.78 targets per game.

With the struggles of the wide receiver corps and the lack of any other established playmakers while Garrett Wilson has been out with injury, that's somewhat astonishing.

And here's where Engstrand comes into play. Of all of Hall's targets, the majority have come between 0-9 yards, with most not being designed plays for the electric back, but rather coming as checkdowns. Only seven of his targets have come on screens, which is less than a third of the league's leader, Devon Achane, who has 27.

However, no running back has more yards per reception on screen passes than Hall, who is tearing off a whopping 13.6 yards per catch on screen passes. That leads all NFL running backs.

The lack of usage that Hall's getting in the passing game, and in particular, the screen game, is all very curious. And what it says about Engstrand is concerning. He might not favor running back screens, but given the dearth of talent and the clear production, an adjustment should be made.

Whether or not he'll change that strategy down the stretch remains to be seen. Whether or not he'll get the chance to better utilize Hall in 2026 is an even bigger question. Hall survived trade rumors, and that might mean the Jets are planning on extending him this offseason. If he is back in the fold, he needs to be more of a focal point in the Jets' aerial attack.

And as for Engstrand, he's going to have to do a better job adapting his play calling to what his personnel is good at and what is clearly working. Otherwise, even with an infusion of talent, the Jets offense will fail to launch yet again.