After the Seattle Seahawks agreed to terms with Sam Darnold, it seems they decided to take a pause and watch how the rest of the first day played out. It's understandable given the veritable tornado of franchise-shaking moves they've made over the last seven days. They couldn't go to bed without making at least one positive move to improve their offensive line, though.
Last night about eight hours after the Darnold news broke, the Seahawks agreed to terms with former Baltimore Ravens offensive lineman Josh Jones. According to a report by Ian Rapoport at NFL Network, it's a one-year deal worth up to $4.75 million.
Jones (6-foot-5, 339 pounds) played his college ball at Houston, then was picked by the Arizona Cardinals in the third round of the 2020 draft class. Since then Jones has appeared in 76 games as a pro, including 24 starts. He spent three years with the Cards, followed by one in Houston before landing with the Ravens last year.
During that run Jones has played pretty much every position you could ask. His 2024 snap distribution is a good example of his versatility, as he put in time at left tackle and right tackle. All together, Jones has played at least a few dozen snaps at every position but center.
Based on the size of Jones' contract our best guess is that the Seahawks see him as a kind of utility depth piece. He might even be their first man up if anybody but a center gets injured first. Then again, it's extremely early in the offseason process and difficult to make any intelligent projections about where he might fit in 2025. We certaintly can't rule out Jones starting, especially considering the state the offensive line is currently in.
For what it's worth Pro Football Focus has not been a big fan of Jones' career. With the exception of a strong 2022 season with Arizona when he earned a 75.8 overall grade with solid marks in both pass blocking and run blocking, PFF hasn't graded him out any higher than 49.3 overall in any season.
Clearly head coach Mike Maconald believes Seattle can get the best version of Jones, though. Time will tell.
