Breece Hall Opens Up on Sharing a Jets Locker Room With Minkah Fitzpatrick
The New York Jets went out and got themselves a proven safety this offseason, and it’s changed the tone in the defensive backfield. Miami agreed to send Minkah Fitzpatrick to New York in exchange for a 2026 seventh-round pick, according to ClutchPoints, citing ESPN’s Adam Schefter. The Jets also signed Fitzpatrick to a three-year extension worth $40 million.
For a Jets defense that finished the 2025 season winless in the interceptions column, adding a three-time First-Team All-Pro was about as clear an upgrade as a rebuilding team could ask for. Fitzpatrick, a New Jersey native, is walking into a homecoming of sorts. He also reunites with Jets defensive coordinator Brian Duker, who coached him in Miami the past two seasons.
But for running back Breece Hall, Fitzpatrick’s arrival means something a little different. It means sharing a building — and a locker room — with a player Hall grew up watching.
Breece Hall Calls Fitzpatrick “Unc”
Hall, 25, is entering his fifth NFL season and is expected to anchor the Jets’ backfield again in 2026. Fitzpatrick, by contrast, is starting his ninth year in the league — a gap wide enough that Hall has taken to needling the veteran safety with an affectionate nickname.
“I call him unc every day,” Hall said, according to a video circulating on social media. “I was in middle school like ‘damn I wonder what it’s like to play against Minkah Fitzpatrick.'”
That timeline checks out. Fitzpatrick was already a first-round pick and starting safety in Miami back when Hall was still years away from his standout run at Iowa State, so the age and experience gap between the two is real, even if it doesn’t show up much on the field.
What Fitzpatrick Has Said About the Younger Generation
The exchange stems from comments Fitzpatrick made in a video, in which he addressed younger players telling him they grew up watching his highlight tape.
“It’s awesome. A lot of those dudes look up to me, and they really admired my game back in the day. They still do now. They pay a lot of respects to me, and I really appreciate the way they show love,” Fitzpatrick said in the clip.
It’s the kind of moment that tends to happen naturally once a player sticks around long enough to become a fixture. Fitzpatrick has made five Pro Bowls and posted 21 career interceptions since Miami drafted him 11th overall back in 2018 — well before most of his current teammates were regulars on NFL rosters.
Why This Matters for the Jets Defense
Beyond the locker-room chemistry, the Jets are counting on Fitzpatrick’s experience to steady a defense that struggled to make plays on the ball a season ago. Interceptions were nonexistent in 2025, a stat that head coach Aaron Glenn’s staff has clearly targeted this offseason. Fitzpatrick slots in alongside Azareye’h Thomas, Brandon Stephens, Jarvis Brownlee Jr. and Malachi Moore in a retooled secondary, an upgrade ClutchPoints notes should be significant over the departing Andre Cisco.
New York opens the 2026 regular season on the road against the Tennessee Titans on Sunday, Sept. 13, a matchup that also carries a subplot: Titans head coach Robert Saleh previously ran the Jets’ sideline from 2021 to 2024. Tennessee’s roster under Saleh includes several former Jets, and Cam Ward returns at quarterback for the Titans after taking over as the No. 1 overall pick in 2025.
For Hall, the “unc” jokes are lighthearted, but they underline something real about what New York added this offseason: a locker-room presence with enough playing history to command respect from a roster that, in some cases, quite literally grew up watching him play.
