Seattle Seahawks LB Ernest Jones IV celebrates one of his 12 tackles, Nov. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
Seattle Seahawks linebacker Ernest Jones IV played one of the best games of his five-year career — and one of the best individual defensive performances of the NFL season — on Sunday in his team’s 26-0 victory against the Minnesota Vikings.
The 26-year-old Jones recorded 12 combined tackles (seven solo), two passes defended, and two interceptions during the contest. He took his first interception 85 yards the other way for Seattle’s first touchdown of the game.
>> Subscribe to Sports Spectrum Magazine for more stories where sports and faith connect <<
“That was my first ever defensive touchdown,” Jones said about his pick-six in his postgame press conference. “It’s been awhile since I’ve seen the end zone, so it was great.”
Jones’ second interception of the day came in Minnesota territory and set up Seattle’s second score, a 17-yard scamper from running back Zach Charbonnet in the fourth quarter.
The dominant win marked Seattle’s first shutout since 2015, when the “Legion of Boom” roamed Seattle’s Lumen Field, and it moved the Seahawks (9-3) into a tie with the Los Angeles Rams for first place in the NFC West (L.A. currently holds the tiebreaker thanks to a head-to-head win on Nov. 16). The teams will match up again in Seattle on Thursday, Dec. 18, with the division title hanging in the balance.
Jones, who was drafted by those Rams in the third round out of South Carolina in 2021, won Super Bowl LVI with Los Angeles as a rookie. He spent two more seasons with the franchise before getting traded to the Tennessee Titans just ahead of the 2024 season. Jones’ stint with the Titans lasted only six games, however, because he was sent back west to join the Seahawks that October.
“For me, being traded twice, that was a little shocker at first,” Jones said after the second trade, via HeraldNet.com. “But honestly, I’m thankful for the opportunity that God has given me. I’m getting to come to an organization that wants to win — loves to win — and has got the pieces now to win.”
His arrival helped to revamp the team’s run defense mid-season as the team finished 10-7 last year. Then in March, Seattle rewarded Jones with a lucrative three-year contract extension, and it has paid off nicely. Including Sunday’s numbers, Jones has now amassed a team-leading 83 combined tackles, along with seven passes defended and five interceptions (both career highs; his interception total ranks second in the NFL) this fall.
Yet for the Waycross, Georgia, native, he doesn’t want his life to be remembered for how much money he made or how many ballcarriers he tackled.
“Once football is over with, you know, not too many people are going to remember the football player,” Jones said in Sunday’s press conference. “I want everybody to remember the person.”
He later explained what he hopes people do remember when they think of him.
“At the end of the day when we leave this earth,” he said, “what type of person were you? Can people count on you? Can people trust you?”
For Jones, his answers to those questions ultimately stem from his relationship with Jesus. He said he was convicted this week that it was a relationship he has been neglecting.
“I told the guys that I feel like I’ve been missing something,” Jones said in his press conference. “I wear this cross around my neck, but I haven’t really been living like it. So for me, I took this time this week and just gave my life back to my Lord and [Savior], Jesus Christ. Got back on my knees, started praying. … I got that peace that I was missing, and it’s gonna help me.”
Jones occasionally posts about his faith on Instagram and X, and he wore specially designed cleats during Sunday’s game for the NFL’s “My Cause My Cleats” initiative. The cleats highlighted Wings for Ewing, a nonprofit dedicated to finding a cure for Ewing Sarcoma. Jones’ father passed away in July after battling the cancer.
Jones knows that the Lord gives, and the Lord takes away, blessings and trials intermingle throughout a life lived for Christ. His ending, however, is secure.
“I’m a big believer in Jesus Christ,” he said in April 2024, via the Rams’ team website. “So I know at the end of the day, I’m taken care of.”
Jones and the Seahawks hope to replicate their impressive performance and keep pace in the competitive NFC West next week in Atlanta against the Falcons (4-8). Kickoff is set for Sunday at 1 p.m. ET.
>> Do you know Christ personally? Learn how you can commit your life to Him. <<
RELATED STORIES:
— Seahawks WR1 Jaxon Smith-Njigba will continue to ‘praise His name’
— WHAT’S UP PODCAST: Brady Russell – Seattle Seahawks Tight End
— Seahawks safety Quandre Diggs gives glory to God after historic interception
— Bills CB Maxwell Hairston stars after battling injury: ‘I’m protected by God’
— 15 Christ-following NFL players to watch in 2025
