“If he feels like we have a need, he’s not shy about going out and addressing it. I think that’ll be true again this year.” Kansas City Chiefs owner Clark Hunt said about general manager Brett Veach ahead of the 2025 trade deadline. At the time, the Chiefs had a glaring need at running back, and given Veach’s history of aggressive in-season moves, Hunt’s confidence made perfect sense.

That is why Kansas City aggressively pursued New York Jets running back Breece Hall at the deadline, with negotiations reportedly progressing deep into discussions. In the end, though, the Chiefs walked away because of the draft compensation involved. The rest of the season only reinforced why they wanted him in the first place. Fast forward to now, and Hall is officially off the table.

On Friday, the Jets signed Hall to a three-year, $43.5 million extension just a couple of months after placing the franchise tag on him, which can be worth up to $45.75 million, according to ESPN. Per Hall’s agent, Nicole Lynn of Klutch Sports, the deal includes $29 million guaranteed, while the $14.5 million annual average now makes Hall the fourth-highest-paid running back in the league.

And although the Chiefs addressed their backfield concerns this offseason by acquiring Kenneth Walker III, Hall’s extension has once again highlighted the opportunity Kansas City let slip away during the 2025 season.

Why did Kansas City want Breece Hall in the first place?

Patrick Mahomes, completing 67% of his passes for 2,099 yards, 17 touchdowns, and just four interceptions through Week 8 of the 2025 season, while also adding 280 rushing yards and four rushing touchdowns, painted a pretty clear picture: he was carrying both the Chiefs’ passing and running game on his shoulders.

That is how underwhelming Kansas City’s ground attack had become around the trade deadline, and it is exactly why many expected Brett Veach to make a move for a running back.

To put that in perspective, neither Isiah Pacheco nor Kareem Hunt managed to consistently spark the offense. Through Week 8, Pacheco had rushed for 329 yards and one touchdown while averaging 4.2 yards per carry, while also suffering a right MCL sprain. Hunt, meanwhile, had just 245 rushing yards and four touchdowns at an even 4.0 yards per carry.

Kansas City needed someone who could take pressure off Mahomes, which is where the Breece Hall rumors started making real sense.

Hall, who was in the final year of his rookie contract, was quietly putting together the best season of his career. Before the trade deadline, he had already piled up 581 rushing yards and two touchdowns while averaging an impressive 5.0 yards per carry. Considering the Jets were sitting at 1-7 at the time, those numbers stood out even more.

At the same time, though, Hall reportedly was not fully satisfied with his situation in New York. With the Jets already moving on from players like Sauce Gardner and Quinnen Williams midseason, Hall appeared open to the idea of a fresh start elsewhere.

The Chiefs clearly explored that possibility. But despite the need in their backfield, Kansas City ultimately hesitated to sacrifice meaningful draft capital for a running back who was going to become an unrestricted free agent after a few weeks. From the Chiefs’ perspective, giving up a future contributor on a four-year rookie deal simply carried too much long-term risk.

The trade that never happened

Once the calendar turns to November, Brett Veach usually gets aggressive in the trade market. We have seen it before with moves for defensive end Melvin Ingram and wide receivers Kadarius Toney and DeAndre Hopkins over the years. The expectation around the league was that Kansas City would make another in-season move last year as well. Only this time, a deal never materialized despite the Chiefs’ strong pursuit of running back Breece Hall.

According to reports, Kansas City offered a 2026 fourth-round pick for Hall. The Jets, however, wanted a 2026 third-rounder in return for the 24-year-old running back. A team source later revealed that the Chiefs stayed in negotiations for Hall until the final minutes before the trade deadline. But just as Kansas City refused to part with a third-round pick, the Jets refused to settle for a fourth.

From the outside, that decision felt surprising. After all, Veach has never really hesitated when it comes to sacrificing draft capital for players he believes can help immediately. Back during the 2022 season, the Chiefs traded a third-round and sixth-round pick for Kadarius Toney. That same third-round pick was later used by the New York Giants in the Darren Waller trade with the Las Vegas Raiders. So, Kansas City refusing to give up another third-rounder definitely stood out.

At the same time, though, there was a major difference between the two situations. Toney was still only in his second NFL season when the Chiefs acquired him, while Hall was approaching unrestricted free agency after the 2025 campaign. That reality ultimately pushed Kansas City away from investing more draft capital into the running back.

The problem was that the Chiefs’ issues in the run game never really improved afterward. The inconsistency and lack of production lingered throughout the season and eventually played a major role in Kansas City missing the playoffs altogether.

The Chiefs’ run game fell apart after the Breece Hall “misstep”

The Chiefs’ missing out on Breece Hall at the trade deadline, especially when their run game desperately needed an explosive playmaker, did not sit well with critics around the league. ESPN NFL analyst Ben Solak even labeled the decision a “serious misstep” in an article published in December 2025.

“If the reports are true that general manager Brett Veach could have had Jets running back Breece Hall for a third-round pick at the deadline this year and passed, that was a serious misstep. If the Chiefs’ draft capital has not gone into ancillary players around the running game, then where has it gone?” Solak wrote.

By the end of the 2025 season, Kansas City’s rushing issues were fully exposed. Isiah Pacheco finished with just 462 rushing yards and one touchdown while averaging 3.9 yards per carry. Kareem Hunt did produce 611 rushing yards and eight touchdowns, but the explosiveness simply was not there, as he averaged only 3.7 yards per attempt.

The bigger picture made things look even worse. Chiefs running backs averaged just 3.7 yards per carry overall, while the team ranked 25th in rushing offense. Kansas City also averaged only 21.3 points per game, good for 21st in the league, and stumbled to a 6-11 finish that ended with the franchise missing the postseason for the first time in a decade.

Now heading into the 2026 season, the Chiefs have responded by acquiring Super Bowl MVP Kenneth Walker III as part of a larger offensive reset. And while passing on Hall will continue to be viewed by many as a major missed opportunity, the bigger question now is whether Walker can finally stabilize Kansas City’s ground game and help take some pressure off Patrick Mahomes.