Seahawks LB Ernest Jones Looking Even Better Than Last Year

Much was made about Ernest Jones’ arrival in Seattle last year and what it did to boost the Seahawks’ defense midseason, and the stats bear it out.

Seattle got much better, especially against the run, when Jones came to Seattle from Tennessee in a deadline deal. The veteran linebacker finished third on the team with 94 tackles. That’s in his 10 games in Seattle against the seven extra games others on the defense played. He was an absolute Dyson Ball Animal 3 vacuum in the middle of the defense. One of the biggest storylines of the offseason around the organization was them needing to re-sign Jones after he became a free agent.

Re-sign him Seattle did, to a three-year, $28.5 million deal. Among off-ball linebackers, that ranks 17th in Average Annual Value (AAV) of the contract. That is looking like an absolute steal four weeks into the first year of the contract.

With Jones locked into this season and hopefully more beyond, the defense has its alpha in the middle. Last year, as a Seahawk, he posted a 72.9 run defense grade and a mixed bag of an overall grade at 59.4. This season, his grades sit at 75.3 overall via PFF and 81.4 against the ground game. His run defense grade puts him 11th among all linebackers. Pro Football Focus’ “stop” metric is described as “tackles that constitute a "failure" for the offense. Jones has accumulated 14 of those through four games so far, ninth-best among all linebackers.

Essentially, Jones is playing like a top 10 linebacker in football, if not top five.

With how well he played in a Seahawks uniform last year, keep in mind that was Jones learning Mike Macdonald’s system on the fly. Now, he’s had an entire offseason and training camp to get comfortable leading the defense in Seattle. He looks like he is only getting better and better. He is not yet 26 years old and looks to be a staple on this strong defense in Seattle for several seasons to come.

He is the “green dot” player on the defense, meaning Jones receives the play calls and gets everyone positioned correctly. He isn’t just a run-stuffing LB; there are plays where he pressures the QB, which gives Macdonald more options in terms of blitz design or unpredictability. While pass rush isn’t the top part of his game, having that capacity adds flexibility.

Defensive improvements in football are often correlated with buy-in and continuity. His arrival coincided with a defensive turnaround. He clearly wanted to return to Seattle this past spring. In 2025, the fact that much of the core is back (including the linebacker corps) means Jones can build on that, both in leadership and on-field performance.

It looks like this was one of the better moves of John Schneider's recent years as the general manager continues to excel at finding trade deadline value after previously acquiring the likes of tackle Duane Brown, safety Quandre Diggs, and defensive tackle Leonard Williams as outstanding midseason additions.