2025 Seahawks Most Valuable Player Rankings: #3

Over the next few weeks, I’ll be listing out my rankings for most valuable Seattle Seahawk player for the 2025 season, starting at #12 and counting down to #1.

Ernest Jones Hot Potato

Back on October 23rd of 2024, Ernest Jones probably felt pretty darn unwanted. He had just been traded for the second time in two months, on a contract year with seemingly no one wanting to pay him. The first of those trades had been from a playoff-caliber Rams team to the rebuilding Titans, for a miniscule amount of draft capital.

The Rams and Titans loss is the Seahawks gain. — Seattle Seahawks linebacker Ernest Jones IV (13) against the Arizona Cardinals. | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

The second trade was at least to a decent team, and there was a respectable exchange of capital to acquire him, but there was still a sense he was getting passed around because he wasn’t highly thought of. 145 tackles and 4.5 sacks in 2023 just wasn’t enough. Helping the Rams win a super bowl as a rookie in 2021 wasn’t enough.

His play for the remainder of 2024, 94 tackles across 10 games and helping solidify what had been a porous defense previously, was enough to get a contract extension. But even that, a three-year deal worth $28.5 million with the potential to go up to $33 million, wasn’t among the upper echelon at his position. Good, but perhaps not great.

A Fifth Year Ascension

Jones is the relay between the coach and the defense. — Seattle Seahawks linebacker Ernest Jones IV (13) talks with Seattle Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald during the fourth quarter against the Houston Texans. | Steven Bisig-Imagn Images

Ernest Jones was more than great in 2025, however. His 126 tackles in just 15 games easily led the team, as did his five interceptions. His generally-accepted biggest weakness from prior seasons, coverage, was largely immaculate, as his understanding of zone drops and ball skills proved to be incredibly valuable to the NFL’s best defense.

Jones wore the green dot for that defense, by the way. Despite missing two games, he earned the first individual accolade of his career in the form of an appearance on the All-Pro second team. He added 25 tackles, an interception, and a forced fumble in the postseason on the way to a second championship. He played his part in a remarkable run defense all season.

Having Your Quarterback’s Back

Jones believed in his quarterback, and his quarterback rewarded him. — Seattle Seahawks linebacker Ernest Jones IV (13) talks to media members at the San Jose Marriott. | Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

As great as he was on the field, his most memorable moment of the season may have happened off of it. After the Seahawks fell to 7-3, dropping a tough road game to the Los Angeles Rams on the back of a four interception game by Sam Darnold, Jones wanted everyone to know he was still standing by his quarterback.

He believed in him, he wasn’t going to pin the loss on him, and he had some not so kind words for anyone who had anything else to say. And maybe that all sounds like a generic, empty platitude, the kind of thing that players usually say to the media, but it can’t help but feel like a seminal moment for the 2025 Seahawks, given they didn’t lose again all season.

The Bottom Line

Jones is gonna be around for awhile. — Ernest Jones IV #13 of the Seattle Seahawks looks on against the Arizona Cardinals. | (Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images)

Whether you wanted on-field excellence or off-field leadership, Jones was your man for the Seahawks. It’s hard to imagine any off-ball linebacker providing more value for a team than Ernest did across 2025. He’s another integral part of Seattle’s impossibly good run defense, and is the voice of Mike Macdonald on the field. Hard to beat that.

— Enjoy free coverage of the Super Bowl champions from Seattle Seahawks On SI —

Sign Up For the Seahawks Daily Digest - OnSI’s Free Seattle Seahawks Newsletter

Add us as a preferred source on Google