The Seattle Seahawks' defense had a rollercoaster of a 2024 season. The unit started out strong, then faltered as the team lost five of six games, but turned it around again following the bye week and actually became one of the league's better defenses by the end.
Several factors contributed to the mid-season turnaround, but the big one was the addition of linebacker Ernest Jones IV via a mid-season trade in late October. Jones, 25, came in and immediately took over the middle of Seattle's defense, posting 94 tackles in just 10 games.
That was just a taste of what the defense can do at full strength, and with 10 of 11 starters returning, plus some new additions like edge rusher DeMarcus Lawrence and rookie safety Nick Emmanwori, Jones believes the unit should only be better in 2025.
"I think it's going to be special," Jones said, per the team's website. "I'm excited. I don't want to give too much because we've got to go put the work in. But, if the vision lives up to what I think, yeah, it's going to be something crazy.
"I like us versus anything and anybody. That's how I'll leave it."
Of course, the gold standard for any Seahawks defense is the Legion of Boom, which dominated the league throughout the early-mid 2010s. Matching that level of dominance seems almost impossible, but that isn't stopping Jones and his teammates from setting those goals.
"I think for this team, we're bought into the goal and the mission, and the goal is to put another banner up in here," Jones said while gesturing to the 2013 Super Bowl banner at the Seahawks' practice facility. "I think everyone believes in that and we're going to show up to work and do what we have to do to make sure we get it done."
