It’s done: Ernest Jones returning to key the Seahawks’ defense. It’s a 3-year deal
Ernest Jones knew this was going to get done.
The Seahawks wanted it to get done.
Coach Mike Macdonald absolutely needed it to get done.
It’s done.
The Seahawks and Jones agreed Sunday to a three-year contract extension. They began working on it in the first weeks after the middle linebacker arrived in a trade in late October and began transforming Seattle’s defense.
Jones announced his new deal with characteristic vigor online Sunday afternoon. He posted on X/Twitter: “AHHHHHHHHH LFG ! ! !”
The contract is worth $33 million over three years for the former Los Angeles Rams Super Bowl-winning linebacker, per NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.
That’s almost four times what Jones earned in 2024, the final season of his rookie contract from the Rams. The Seahawks inherited that in their trade with the Tennessee Titans for Jones this past October.
Jones earned a total of $3.1 million from the Titans and the Seahawks last season. Seattle paid him only $1.9 million.
That was the biggest bargain on the team.
In half a season, Jones transformed a defense that was bottom of the league in stopping the run into an at-times formidable rushing defense. He became Macdonald’s signal caller, run stopper and pass interceptor in a middle of defense that massively improved over the latter half of this past season.
It flat-lined with the lighter, less-stout Tyrel Dodson as Seattle’s middle linebacker to start it.
Macdonald cut Dodson soon after Jones arrived, and thrived.
The agreement came the day before Jones could have started negotiating with other teams as an unrestricted free agent.
Monday begins the NFL’s so-called “legal tampering” period, two days of free agents talking new contracts with teams. Those deals become official when the market opens Wednesday, the start of the new league year.
Jones, 25, said on the day the 2024 season ended he was coming back to the Seahawks instead of entering the riches of NFL free agency for the first time.
“It’s heading in the right direction, for sure,” Jones said Jan. 5 inside the visiting locker room on the ground floor of SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California. “We’re going to get it done. I’m going to be a Seahawk. I firmly believe that.”
Jones said “I believe in the guys, the agents, the front office.”
“We are going to get it figured out.”
Macdonald said in late November, when it was obvious how valuable Jones already was to improving the Seahawks’ defense, he wants Jones as the team’s middle linebacker for years.
“I can tell you that we’re really excited about Ernest,” Macdonald, the former Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinator who sought Jones singularly this past midseason, said.
“And I hope there’s an opportunity for him to be here for an extended period of time.
“He’s definitely one of our type of guys.
“We’re excited to have him. Hopefully he’s here for a while.”
He’s now signed through the 2027 season, as the clear mainstay in the middle of Macdonald’s defense and front seven.
This story was originally published March 9, 2025 at 4:54 PM.
