RENTON, Wash. — Over the primary half of 2023, Dre’Mont Jones was virtually solely a defensive deal with, lining up inside on the overwhelming majority of his snaps.
Over the second half, he was predominantly a defensive finish.
And by the point his first season with the Seattle Seahawks was within the books, Jones was one thing of an enigma, a extremely gifted participant whose influence did not fairly match up with the hype that accompanied his arrival as one of many greatest free agent acquisitions in franchise historical past.
Enter Mike Macdonald.
The Seahawks’ new head coach is not putting in a copy-and-paste model of the scheme he coordinated in Baltimore during the last two seasons, however he’s bringing with him parts that made the Ravens’ protection maybe the hardest within the NFL to resolve. One of many methods by which they plan to maintain opposing offenses guessing and put their defenders in advantageous positions is by always shifting them round up entrance.
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That is why versatility has been the buzzword of the offseason amongst Seahawks defensive linemen, coaches and even their personnel division.
“One factor that I might emphasize is versatility,” assistant basic supervisor Nolan Teasley mentioned earlier than the draft when requested concerning the change in defensive fashion from former coach Pete Carroll to Macdonald.
“I believe they most likely touched on it by retaining [Leonard Williams]. His potential to play up and down the road of scrimmage relying on the entrance and personnel. I do know a participant that we’re actually enthusiastic about, that they are enthusiastic about shifting round is Dre’Mont Jones due to his potential off the sting, his potential to hurry anyplace from the three-technique to the six, possibly even out to the 9.”
Williams, who re-signed in March after arriving by way of commerce final October, mentioned he is been working at 5 different positions along with his typical spot as a three-technique defensive deal with.
“I believe it advantages us in creating matchups the place you are placing the defensive participant in the very best place and then you definitely’re additionally complicated the offense,” Williams mentioned throughout minicamp earlier this month.
“It makes it more durable for the offense to check us understanding that they might see Dre’Mont at a five-technique on movie, after which once we line up and play in opposition to them, he is most likely going to be taking part in zero- or three-technique. So it is more durable for an offense to scheme in opposition to one particular participant as a result of we transfer round a lot.”
Can that assist Macdonald and defensive coordinator Aden Durde unlock the 27-year-old Jones?
His debut season with the Seahawks was extra stable than spectacular, a minimum of relative to expectations that got here together with his large contract.
The three-year, $51.53 million deal Jones signed with Seattle final March simply made him the highest-paid free agent acquisition of the Carroll-John Schneider period. His $17.18 million common far surpassed the $9.53 million common of the deal the Seahawks gave outdoors linebacker Uchenna Nwosu 12 months earlier, which was beforehand probably the most that regime had spent on one other workforce’s free agent.
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Jones produced career-highs in tackles (49) and QB hits (12) whereas taking part in in all 17 video games, and certainly one of his 4.5 sacks got here within the last minute of a Christmas Eve sport in opposition to the Tennessee Titans to assist the Seahawks shut out a three-point win that saved their playoff hopes alive.
However that was Jones’ lowest sack complete since his 2019 rookie season with the Denver Broncos, when he posted 3.5 (he recorded 6.5, 5.5 and 6.5 over the subsequent three years). His 5 tackles for loss had been additionally his fewest since 2019.
One thought contained in the Virginia Mason Athletic Heart is that Seahawks coaches did not use Jones in a approach that maximized his strengths. In response to ESPN Stats and Data, he performed 329 snaps at defensive deal with and solely 45 at defensive finish over the primary 9 video games. Then after Nwosu went down with a torn pectoral in October and Williams arrived by way of commerce eight days later, Jones moved outdoors, taking part in 302 snaps at finish and 61 at deal with over the ultimate eight video games.
So whereas the Seahawks did make the most of Jones’ versatility final season, they did not achieve this on a play-by-play foundation like their new workers intends to in 2024.
And whereas their actual plans for particular person gamers are nonetheless being sorted out, indicators level to the sting probably being one thing of a house base for Jones. That will make sense given how well-stocked Seattle is at defensive deal with with Williams, Jarran Reed, first-round choose Byron Murphy II and veteran addition Johnathan Hankins, amongst others.
Over the offseason, Jones’ private coach shared a video of Jones dropping into protection throughout an on-field exercise. Throughout minicamp, he took half in place drills with the skin linebackers. That was after he confirmed up weighing round 265-270 kilos, down from his listed weight of 281.
Throughout an 11-on-11 interval within the second minicamp follow, Jones lined up on the sting reverse Williams with Seattle’s protection in dime, after which a couple of performs later he was inside subsequent to Williams in a nickel package deal.
“I believe his skillset lends to making an attempt to play a bit of matchup ball with him or setting one other man up,” Macdonald mentioned. “He can do a whole lot of issues. We have talked about it, however we’re actually enthusiastic about Dre’Mont.”
Macdonald credited Jones for being in “nice form” and for staying up to the mark with Seattle’s defensive set up regardless of being away from the ability throughout voluntary Organized Crew Actions; Jones posted on Instagram earlier this month that he not too long ago grew to become a father for the second time.
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“He knew a whole lot of the stuff we had been doing though he hadn’t been within the constructing,” Macdonald mentioned.
Earlier than departing for the pre-training camp summer time break, the Seahawks transformed $9.875 million of Jones’ $11 million base wage for 2024 right into a signing bonus and added a pair of void years onto the top of his deal in an effort to create $7.4 million in wage cap house. That is a standard restructure achieved solely to present Seattle some wanted respiratory room in opposition to the spending restrict, as no new cash was added.
The larger change for Jones can be together with his increasing function alongside Seattle’s line of defense.
“When you could have guys that may do a number of issues, play completely different gaps within the run sport and rush at completely different ranges within the move sport and you’ll have extra large guys, it simply opens up extra personnel teams, extra appears you may generate,” Macdonald mentioned. “Total, it is good for us. … We’ll type of reassess how the spring has been, reassess our plan going into camp, after which as camp goes, we’re going see the way it evolves all through camp. I believe you need to have that perspective. Should you simply cookie cutter it … I believe you restrict your self on how far you may take your workforce.”
