For the last few days, I have been contemplating writing a wishlist piece about what the Seattle Seahawks might/should do before the upcoming trade deadline. I wanted to include modest scenarios like what we saw last week when they trade for defensive tackle Roy Robertson Harris, but I also wanted to include a few big splashy type trade options. GM John Schneider has a long history of doing a bit of both.

On Wednesday, however, the Seattle Seahawks made a very interesting moderate sized trade with the Tennessee Titans, sending weak side linebacker Jerome Baker and a 2025 fourth round pick in exchange for 24 year old middle linebacker Ernest Jones. While this news has forced me to kind scrap the blog idea I had in mind, my initial reaction to the trade was one of excitement. Upon further reflection, I’m still really excited.

This may very well not be the sort of regime changing mid season trade that defines the Mike Macdonald era quite like the time in 2010 where Seattle shipped a fourth round pick for a backup running back in Buffalo known as Marshawn Lynch and instantly defined the Pete Carroll era.. or is it?

In 2010, a few games through Carroll’s first year as the Seahawk head coach, this franchise was struggling to run the ball, and thus struggling to be the physical team that Carroll envisioned them being. They made the infamous Marshawn trade, it took a while for him to settle in, but a couple months later, we were rewarded with what is now legendarily known as the Beast Quake.

Now, I am not going to suggest the Ernest Jones is going to achieve the same legendary status that Beast Mode is known for in these parts, but I am pointing out to you that Jones is coming in to help fill Seattle’s biggest team need. Mike Macdonald wants a physical football team, and it is tough to be that, if you cannot stop the run. In recent years, this young middle linebacker has been a very good run stopper, as well as being good against the pass.

Now he has ten games to show Macdonald that he can be a bright young middle linebacker to build around. If he does, I think this team works out a long term deal with him.

I have seen some reacting to this news by saying that Seattle gave up too much for a rental. I don’t think they view him as a rental player at all. I am more inclined to suggest that they see him as a missing piece that they intend to keep around.

For one, they know Jones very well from his time with the Rams, and I think they might have been as shocked as anyone when they saw the Rams send him off to Tennessee for a mere fifth round pick instead of rewarding him with an extension around the corner. With all the speculation that perhaps Seattle would pursue one of the Jacksonville middle linebackers that could be on the trade market, this move for Jones makes more sense to me as it further sinks in because of this interdivisional knowledge of him as a player, and he likely wouldn’t have been made available for Seattle in a trade if he was still with the division rival Rams.

From a Seattle perspective, he could have been the top linebacker they were in pursuit of all along, and not former first round pick Devin Lloyd in Jacksonville, as some were speculating they might have interest in. They might have been waiting out the Titans to lose one more game to officially become sellers. It is interesting that in this same day, the Titans were also sellers of DeAndre Hopkins to KC for a mere fifth round pick.

Another reason why I think this trade could end up being a much bigger deal than maybe it looks right now is that Mike Macdonald’s specialty as a defensive minded coach is linebackers. His scheme is set up for a fast, hard charging middle linebacker to make tackles for losses, and also be able to defend the pass. Jones was very good at this in LA, and his play carried through into the Tennessee defense which, despite their losing record, has been very good this season.

When asked about the Jones acquisition in his Wednesday press conference, Macdonald sounded genuinely excited. He phrased the move as being an opportunity to add a really good tough as nails player who will take over at MIKE linebacker while Tyrel Dodson will move to his more natural position of weak side backer that Jerome Baker filled. From these words, it is very easy to parse that Macdonald had been feeling like he didn’t have the MIKE backer he needed.

As others have already noted, it was middle season two and a half years ago when Macdonald had taken over the Baltimore defense, that the Ravens made the trade with Chicago to add Roquan Smith. I am not saying that Jones is as good as Roquan is, but he may prove to be not that far off in this particular scheme. It’s interesting that both play the same linebacker role, and both are built fairly similarly.

If anything, it will be kinda exciting to see how Jones blends in, and if this defense really does start to resemble the Baltimore one as we get further through this season. Last week, we saw this team acquire Roy Robertson-Harris from the Jaguars, and my immediate reaction to that, is that RRH does have a body type and playing style similar to the defensive ends and tackles we have seen over the years in Baltimore. Now we have seen this team bring in Jones who does, at the very least, seem like a poor man’s version of Roquan, and maybe he becomes much more than that once Macdonald starts to really work with him.

Exciting stuff to think about, and I love that Ernest Jones is getting tossed right into the starting lineup against the Bills who are coming in as favorites at Lumen Field. Maybe this addition of Jones gives Seattle a slight advantage of newness that Buffalo won’t be able to prepare for.

One other big way that I think Jones helps Seattle is in terms of advantage is his own knowledge of the NFC West landscape being a former Ram. He will know how to play Kyler Murray in Arizona. He will be very familiar with San Francisco, and he will especially know the Rams. With most of Seattle’s interdivisional games in front of them, adding Jones feels like it is coming at a really good time.

So, on all these fronts, I really, really dig this trade a lot. It feels like a lot to give up, if you are viewing him as a bandaid or a rental player, but if he becomes the starting MIKE backer for the next several seasons, and is really good doing that, just like he has been over the past couple seasons, then this deal is kind of a steal.

Right now, I am working with the assumption that he can, and will be a long term fixture here. If he plays as well as I think he is capable of playing, Seattle can use their franchise tag to work out a deal with him this offseason. This is the direction of where I think this is probably going to head towards. I think he’s going to be long term.

In terms of other matters, I don’t know if Seattle is necessarily done shopping. They might be, but right now, they are slated to have a number of comp picks in the 2025 draft, and I think having those made John Schneider feel like he could pony up a fourth to land Jones.

Could they decide to have some more fun and do more?

Let me share some of the ideas I had in the trade piece that I was mulling over in my head, thinking I might write about.

While it is good to see Abe Lucas and George Fant coming off of IR to practice with the team again, what if they see an opportunity to improve a guard spot, as well?

If the Dallas Cowboys lose to San Francisco this weekend and drop to 3-4, perhaps that makes pro bowl guard Zack Martin available. Maybe the Cleveland Browns will consider moving Joel Bitonio next week. Both players are older, and would be rentals, but they would be significant upgrades to what Seattle is working with now in Laken Tomlinson and Anthony Bradford.

Here is something even more exciting and fun to think about.

What if Seattle pulls off a surprise win against the Bills on Sunday, and they pull even further ahead in the division? Would they feel temped to swing big at Maxx Crosby in Vegas, or Dexter Lawrence with the Giants?

With almost everyone healthy again, they seem set up enough at edge rusher, and defensive tackle, but a chance to land an All Pro player up front on defense is an absolutely intoxicating idea to think about. It would be the big swing at the fence move to fortify their chances of winning this up for grabs division in year one of the Macdonald regime.

When they line up to play San Francisco again in the few week, what if Seattle’s starting front four consists of Boye Mafe, Leonard Williams, Byron Murphy, and Maxx Crosby? What if it’s Leonard Williams, Bryon Murphy, Dexter Lawrence, and Boye Mafe? One scenario offers an immediate electric pass rush, and the other offers one of the stoutest front fours in the league capable of stuffing the run, and mush rushing quarterbacks each and every Sunday.

Seattle’s offense, on the whole, feels pretty decent despite what they have been gutting through on their offensive line. Geno Smith has been doing very well, putting up big yards and fitting the Ryan Grubb offense, they are doing well passing to set up the run. Adding an upgrade at guard would make a lot of sense on many levels, make your strength stronger. It is the trade that would make tons of sense right now.

But what if John Schneider decided to go crazy bold on defense, and reward his first year defensive minded head coach an All Pro piece up front? What if they say, “hey, if we send a first round pick and change for this guy, we have a shot at having a top five defense by the end of the season, and we can just sow up this division with what’s going on with the offense and really make this thing special now” and they just go big after Lawrence or Crosby?

I will admit it, these are the two trade scenarios that I currently obsess about the most. In fact, if I were the GM of this team, looking at the injuries and possible dysfunction with San Francisco, looking at the injuries with the Rams, and the up and down nature or Arizona, I would honestly be very tempted to place calls in for either one of these guys. For all we know, Schneider might already have been doing this.

Other trade avenues that I could see this team pursue would be receiver, if DK Metcalf can’t come back from his minor knee sprain as soon as they were hoping. I have sorta simmered on those thoughts, because I feel like there is hope he will only miss a game or two, and I suspect that they like their overall depth in that area.

The one other trade idea I could ever so slightly see them do is maybe targeting a quarterback of the future, if they aren’t completely sold right now on Sam Howell,.. maaaaaaaaybe. I think it’s kind of a fun thought, anyhow.

As much as I would love to think they could pry Michael Penix Junior out of Atlanta, I don’t think that is going to happen, not with how Kirk Cousins played last Sunday, and Atlanta wanting long term security at that spot. I do however wonder about Will Levis in Tennessee, and if Tennessee decides to just tank it now for a quarterback at the top of next year’s draft.

While I am not the biggest Levis fan, I do recognize that he has the size, arm strength, and athleticism that John Schneider seems to really love in quarterbacks. There was, after all, a lot of thought from national minds at the end of last season that Levis was going to be a player on the rise to becoming a true franchise quarterback, and I think those thoughts are interesting to cling onto a bit, especially with the revitalization of Sam Darnold in Minnesota.

Right now, I think it is highly, highly unlikely that Seattle would pull a midseason trade for a QB of the future player who isn’t likely going to help this team win games now, but I do want to throw this idea out there in preparation for what they might decide to look at in the offseason. They might well like a few guys in college right now, but they might also have an eye for a player in the league who they think they can add and develop. This isn’t to take anything away from Geno Smith, and how they might really dig him moving forward still, but at some point, they have to seriously think heir apparent. My question has more to do with whether they see Howell as that fella.

At any rate, these are my current thoughts. I liked the move for Roberston-Harris last week, and thought it signaled a shift towards what McDonald desires up front, but I really, really dig this move for Ernest Jones. I have a feeling like this move to be much closer to special.

And I have a growing itch to see John Schneider make a big splash move for Maxx Crosby or Dexter Lawrence. I doubt either happens, but I would love it if it did. I would absolutely freak the F out if either happened.

Go Hawks.