How two former Rams united on the Seahawks for their Super Bowl run

Things change quickly in the NFL. There’s a reason why many say the initials actually stand for ‘Not For Long’. Players fall out of favor and smash headfirst into the wall on their way to the retirement home. Other players ascend in a flash. Stars who seem like they were born wearing a team’s jersey end up wearing the jersey of teams you’d never expect.

No matter how much we all know these things, it’s still a bit of a surprise every time it happens. If you’re a Seahawks fan, you’ve experienced it a lot in recent times. Russell Wilson in a Broncos/Steelers/Giants jersey, Tyler Lockett in a Titans/Raiders jersey, Bobby Wagner in a Rams/Commanders jersey, Earl Thomas in a Ravens jersey, and so on.

Nevertheless, if you were to jump back four years and watch the Los Angeles Rams win Super Bowl LVI, you probably wouldn’t be able to predict that two of their best players would be helping the Seattle Seahawks go to Super Bowl LX. But that’s where we are. And according to reports, the fact that they re-united here is not just coincidence.

Ernest Jones IV wasn’t one of the most well-known players on that championship-winning Rams squad. A 22 year old rookie, Jones did start several games and amass 61 tackles, but was a clear number two in the linebacker room behind Troy Reeder, with Kenny Young also pushing him for snaps. Clocking in seven tackles and a sack in the Super Bowl, his future looked bright.

He broke out in 2022 on a bad Rams squad that was filled with injuries, second in tackles on the team with 114 playing alongside Bobby Wagner. 2023, however, he ascended into the conversation for best young linebacker in football, pulling down 145 tackles in just 15 games while becoming a premiere pass rusher with 4.5 sacks and 14 pressures.

You would have figured that Jones had worked his way into the future plans of the Rams at that point. But during that offseason, when Jones was newly-eligible for an extension, Los Angeles wasn’t interested. In late August, the Rams traded him to the Tennessee Titans, although a more accurate phrase might be ‘gave him away’, sending him and a 6th round pick for a 5th.

Both those picks were in the 2026 draft, by the way, meaning they haven’t even been used yet. The Rams thought so little of him, they traded him for a pick swap that they were about 19 months away from even getting the benefit of, despite coming off a season with a playoff appearance and a short window to compete with an aging Stafford. Curious.

Jones claims he knew how good this team was going back to last offseason. — Seattle Seahawks linebacker Ernest Jones IV (13) reacts after an interception against the San Francisco 49ers. | Steven Bisig-Imagn Images

Two months later, the Titans re-gifted him to the Seahawks for a 4th and Jerome Baker, seemingly also uninterested in giving him a second contract (although likely for different reasons). It was in Seattle that Jones found some appreciation, as he worked through a nagging injury to amass 94 tackles in 10 games and solidified a leaky Seattle defense.

Finally, Jones got his extension, just a few days before he would have become a free agent. Three years, $28.5 million with incentives that could take it up to $33 million. Not exactly market setting for the position, but certainly more respect and commitment than the Rams gave him. Around this same time, Jones hit up one of his former teammates who was looking for a job.

Unlike Jones, Cooper Kupp’s place on the Rams was not even remotely questionable at the time of that Super Bowl in Los Angeles. Perhaps the best player on the team, Kupp won the triple crown during the regular season (leading the league in receptions, receiving yards, and receiving touchdowns). Kupp added nearly 500 yards and 6 touchdowns in the postseason.

Super Bowl MVP and the top receiver in the game, you would have certainly figured that Kupp was a forever Ram. But three injury-plagued seasons later, combined with one Puka Nacua ascension, Kupp was released from a three-year, $80 million extension he signed after the Super Bowl. Understandable, but brutal.

Well, maybe not understandable. Reports released in the last few days indicate that things ended on bad terms between player and team, with the Rams phasing him out of the offense, then encouraging him to retire, and even sabotaging his free agent value to other teams after release. Is it all true? Hard to say, but at least some of it must be.

And Kupp did seem to take it personally. He was just a few seasons removed from having the best single season of any wide receiver in the history of the NFL, so I can certainly understand the sour feelings when the team discarded him. The lack of appreciation and respect for what he had done for the franchise seemed to drive him to do what he did next.

He texted Jones, and asked him about the Seahawks. The idea of getting revenge on his former team with the division rival that seemed close to overtaking them must have been appealing. Jones’s reply told him that there was potentially even more than that on the line if he joined him. “We’re on the cusp of competing for a Super Bowl,” Jones said. “We’re right there.”

Kupp and the guy who replaced him as the go-to guy in Los Angeles. — Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Cooper Kupp (10) and Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua (12). | Steven Bisig-Imagn Images

Most NFL prognosticators would have strongly disagreed with Jones’s take, but ten months later he has proven to be completely correct. And Kupp has been richly rewarded for believing in Jones. The two are one win away from a second Super Bowl win. And they had to go through the Rams, twice, to get there, which is probably all the sweeter.

Kupp got a fair bit of money in coming to Seattle, a 3 year $45 million dollar deal that far exceeded the near-veteran minimum contract the Rams were supposedly urging other teams to offer him. He didn’t have a typical Kupp year, with 47 catches for 593 yards and 2 touchdowns in 16 games, but he proved to be there when the team needed him.

Jones led the team with eight tackles in the NFC Championship game, while Kupp caught four passes for 36 yards and a touchdown. Three of those four catches converted third downs, including one on Seattle’s final drive that led to several extra minutes being drained off the clock. If they’re still feeling sore about how Los Angeles pushed them out, that felt good.

Sunday night, after that NFC Championship game victory, Jones texted Kupp again, following up on their prior conversation. “I told you, right there!” he said. A team that had missed the playoffs two straight seasons and hadn’t won a playoff game since before COVID-19 was a thing had gone past the cusp that Jones had previously referenced.

One more win, and these two will officially have the last laugh. Kupp might retire this offseason, as he’s about to turn 33, but Jones should be a stalwart on an elite Seattle defense for awhile, having made the All-Pro team in 2025 and looking like he’s just going to continue to build his career across from the Rams within the division.

And maybe this story doesn’t quite play out this way without that text, ten months ago.

Could Seattle be here right now without Ernest Jones in the middle? — Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. (18) cannot make a catch against Seattle Seahawks linebacker Drake Thomas (42) as linebacker Ernest Jones IV (13) intercepts the ball. | Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images

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