RENTON, Wash. -- Ernest Jones IV was fresh off his trade from the Tennessee Titans when the Seattle Seahawks hit their bye in early November, so as many of his new teammates were getting away for the week off, the fourth-year inside linebacker was still moving in.
"Finally getting out of the hotel," Jones said after the Seahawks' Week 10 bye. "Now we're just waiting on our furniture to get here."
Jones and his wife found a house in the Seattle area. After being traded twice in two months, and playing a huge hand in the midseason transformation of coach Mike Macdonald's defense, the pending free agent may have found a home with the Seahawks.
"We love him," Macdonald said this week. "He's a great player and there's a poise to how he operates, which I respect. I think the guy loves football. Those are the guys that do really well here. He would do great in a lot of organizations, probably every organization, but I think he's a great fit here. We love him, and I think he loves it here too. It's been great so far."
With the Seahawks out of playoff contention, Jones' whirlwind season will end Sunday where it began when Seattle faces the Los Angeles Rams (4:25 p.m. ET, Fox) at SoFi Stadium.
In keeping with their MO of not paying big money to inside linebackers, the Rams traded Jones to Tennessee in August as the 2021 third-round pick was about to begin the final year of his rookie contract. While few could have imagined it at the time, Jones' move out of the NFC West actually paved his way to Seattle.
The Seahawks' run defense struggled badly out of the gate, in part because of subpar play from Tyrel Dodson and Jerome Baker, the two veteran inside linebackers they had signed in free agency to one-year deals. General manager John Schneider and his scouts began scouring the rest of the league for upgrades.
They identified a potential solution in Tennessee, figuring the Titans wouldn't be able to pay both Jones and inside linebacker Kenneth Murray, and that their 0-3 start might make them willing to part with one of them. Schneider got in contact with Titans president of football operations Chad Brinker, with whom he has been close since hiring him to the Green Bay Packers' front office in 2010.
Schneider asked about both linebackers, but Jones was the one the Seahawks really wanted. After a couple days of conversations, Jones was theirs on Oct. 23 in exchange for Baker and a 2025 fourth-round pick.
"We have a really good relationship," Schneider told Seattle Sports 710-AM about Brinker, "and just had the lines of communication open and wanted to go for it. Jerome's a great guy, but he was deciding between Tennessee and us in free agency, and so everything just kind of made sense."
Jones hit the ground running in Seattle -- having come from a similar defensive scheme in Tennessee -- with 15 tackles in his Seahawks debut in Week 9 despite only one practice and a walk-through under his belt after his midweek trade. His 85 tackles in nine games with Seattle leads the team by 30.
Jones, who replaced Dodson as the team's defensive signal-caller, had an interception in the Seahawks' Week 14 win over the Arizona Cardinals, making amends for a dropped pick four weeks earlier in a loss to the Rams. But his biggest impact has been with Seattle's run defense, which ranked 28th over the first seven games (146.1 yards per game) and has ranked eighth since Week 9 (97.8).
When safety Julian Love was asked early in that turnaround what's been working for the Seahawks' run defense, he first pointed to Jones.
"I think number 13 is probably what's working," Love said. "That dude's a stud. We all really appreciate having him, and he's just such a good leader in terms of he's very steady, he communicates clearly, and above all, he's a dog. He has a see-ball, get-ball mentality. When you have that, guys are playing off him."
Married with a newborn son, Jones is so mature that Macdonald easily forgets he only turned 25 in November. He's only a year older than rookie inside linebacker Tyrice Knight, who took over on the weak side after Seattle waived Dodson.
"Yeah," Macdonald said. "Mind blowing."
Macdonald has noted all the parallels between how the Seahawks added Jones and the Ravens' acquisition of Roquan Smith in 2022, while Macdonald was Baltimore's coordinator. Both were midseason trades for inside linebackers that helped turn his struggling defense around in Year 1.
But while Baltimore extended Smith late that season, the Seahawks may have to sweat out free agency in order to keep Jones long-term. He's among a handful of key players who will be in line for new deals, a group that includes quarterback Geno Smith, wide receiver DK Metcalf, left tackle Charles Cross, outside linebacker Boye Mafe and others.
Whereas those players are all under contract through 2025, Jones is set to become a free agent in March. His deal could be the first big domino of the offseason if the two sides come to an agreement.
"Coaches like me here, I love it here, I would love to be here," he said. "But as far as extension or free agency, I'm kind of just letting my agent handle it, letting the organization handle it, and hopefully we can get something done so I can be around."
