The Seahawks acquired Ernest Jones IV from the Titans in exchange for Jerome Baker and a draft selection in an inside linebacker trade.
The Titans will receive a 2025 fourth-round pick in the trade, according to ESPN sources. The transaction is pending physicals.
The move gives the Seahawks an upgrade at one of their weaker spots, and it is the Titans’ second trade of the day, as they are completing a deal to send receiver DeAndre Hopkins to the Kansas City Chiefs, according to sources.
This is Jones, 24,’s second trade this year. The Titans acquired him from the Rams in August, in exchange for Jones and a 2026 sixth-round pick.
Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald announced Wednesday that Jones would play inside linebacker and Tyrel Dodson, who had been playing there, would transfer to Baker’s vacated weakside linebacker slot. Jones is slated to arrive in Seattle on Wednesday night, and MacDonald expects him to play Sunday against the Buffalo Bills.
Jones, a third-round pick in 2021, played his first three seasons with the Rams, helping them win Super Bowl LVI over the Cincinnati Bengals as a rookie. Jones, 24, has 44 tackles this season, which ranks second on the Titans, who are 1-5 and bottom in the AFC South.
He now returns to the NFC West as a member of the Seattle Seahawks, who lead the division by one game, 4-3.
Jones is in the last year of his rookie contract, which pays a base salary of $3.116 million. According to an ESPN source, the Seahawks hope to keep him until 2024, as their organizational policy is not to extend trade acquisitions immediately.
Baker is also due to become a free agency at the end of the season, having signed with Seattle in March on a one-year, $7 million contract after spending the previous six seasons with the Miami Dolphins. He has 37 tackles and a sack in five games this season, missing two due to a hamstring injury that also kept him out for the majority of the summer.
Seattle is expected to have an additional fourth-round pick in next year’s draft.
The Seahawks have allowed the fifth-most rushing yards per game, with slightly over 146. Jones should be familiar with Macdonald’s defense, as Tennessee uses a version of it under coordinator Dennard Wilson.
Jones swiftly moved into the Titans’ starting lineup, next to veteran Kenneth Murray Jr., and took on a leadership role, playing 91.2% of Tennessee’s defensive snaps. Baker will replace Jones in the starting lineup.
Cedric Gray, the Titans’ rookie fourth-round pick, might also become an option once he is activated from injured reserve. Gray is healing from a nerve-related shoulder injury. The Titans gave him a 21-day window to return on October 7.
Also on Wednesday, the Seahawks announced that right tackles Abe Lucas and George Fant would return to practice. Lucas has been on the physically unable to perform list while recovering from offseason knee surgery. Fant, signed in March to replace Lucas, is on injured reserve after injuring his knee in Week 1.
Their absences, along with Stone Forsythe is hand injury last week, left the Seahawks with only their fourth option at right tackle, rookie sixth-round pick Mike Jerrell, in their victory over the Atlanta Falcons.
Macdonald stated Monday that Jerrell, Fant, and Forsythe might start this week against the Bills, while Lucas will need many weeks of work before he is ready to play.
