'We Like Him There': Seahawks Leaning on Dre'Mont Jones to Replace Nwosu

RENTON, Wash. - Though the Seattle Seahawks improved their record to 4-2 with a 20-10 win over the Arizona Cardinals on October 22, the victory proved to be bittersweet as the team lost one of their best players and leaders in Uchenna Nwosu to a season-ending pectoral injury.

Nwosu, who signed a lucrative multi-year extension with the Seahawks in July, suffered the injury while attempting to make a tackle late in the second quarter and did not return. Less than 24 hours later, coach Pete Carroll indicated he would likely need surgery, abruptly bringing his season to an end after just six games.

In the aftermath of Nwosu's injury, while Carroll acknowledged they wouldn't be able to plug anyone else into the lineup to replace his production by themselves, Seattle swiftly brought back veteran pass rusher Frank Clark for a second stint in the Pacific Northwest. Less than two weeks later, the team dealt a second and fifth-round pick to the New York Giants for defensive end Leonard Williams, a move that initially didn't seem to have any impact on the edge positions.

But since Williams arrived at the trade deadline and immediately stepped into the starting lineup, the Seahawks have been afforded the opportunity to operate outside the box a bit in an effort to help mitigate Nwosu's absence. While prized free agent acquisition Dre'Mont Jones has still played quite a bit inside as a 3-tech defensive end, the team has slid him outside more over the past two weeks, including a season-high 18 snaps off the edge in Sunday's win over the Commanders.

“Dre had played quite a bit over the years inside and outside," Carroll told reporters on Monday. "He’s not unfamiliar with it, we just haven’t been practicing him there much. It’s taken us a couple of weeks to get him adapted, but we like him there."

Before joining Seattle on a three-year, $51 million deal in March, Jones demonstrated outstanding positional flexibility in his first four NFL seasons in Denver. His first three seasons came in coach Vic Fangio's scheme, which defensive coordinator Clint Hurtt has modeled his current defense after, and he was asked to where a number of different hats along the defensive line.

In his first three seasons with the Broncos, after spending most of his rookie season playing inside, Jones gradually started to see more snaps lined up over the tackle or in a two-point stance outside the tackle. Even after Fangio was fired following the 2021 season, his role expanded under defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero, as he logged a career-high 209 snaps off the edge.

Possessing the athleticism at 281 pounds to line up out wide in a two-point stance and the power to hold his own inside, Jones turned in his third consecutive season with at least six sacks and set a new personal best with 45 quarterback pressures. Aside from his consistent production, that positional flexibility stood out as a prime reason why the Seahawks decided to open up the checkbook to land his services in a rare spending spree moment for the franchise.