RENTON, Wash. – Being traded during the middle of a season in the NFL comes with plenty of complications. Players have to quickly hitch a flight to begin practicing with their new team and rapidly begin learning a new playbook to ready themselves to play as soon as possible.
But away from obvious job related tasks, as new Seattle Seahawks linebacker Ernest Jones IV has now had to experience twice in less than two months, getting traded puts a tremendous amount of stress on the player’s family. That’s especially true for the 24-year old defender and his wife Tyra, welcomed their first child Ernest V before the start of the season and before the Los Angeles Rams initially traded him to the Tennessee Titans in late August, adding another challenge to the equation.
While uprooting his family for the second time in a matter of months has been a mental battle for Jones this week, however, this latest move has the blessing of his wife. Happy to be back in the NFC West playing on the “good side” after playing in Seattle numerous times with the Rams, he’s eager to show what he can do after the Seahawks traded for him on Wednesday with hopes of receiving a lucrative extension and making the Pacific Northwest his long-term home.
“I love to be in Seattle,” Jones told reporters in his introductory press conference prior to Thursday’s practice. “My wife’s happy. She’s back into where there’s a little city vibe, so she’s happy. I’m good and I’m going to do whatever I can to be on this team for the long haul if that’s where they see me and fitting in. From there, we work out everything else.”
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In many ways, Jones’ latest change of scenery comes with unexpected perks for an abrupt midseason trade. Aside from joining a Seattle squad currently in first place in the NFC West and in the hunt to win a division title, he expects his transition on the field should be a smooth one playing for coach Mike Macdonald, whose scheme has carry over from the system he played in at Tennessee for defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson, who worked on Baltimore’s staff with Macdonald last season.
Per Macdonald on Wednesday, Jones will take over as the Seahawks new middle linebacker, while veteran Tyrel Dodson will slide to the weakside linebacker spot left vacant by the departure of Jerome Baker, who was sent to the Titans along with a 2025 fourth-round pick as part of the trade.
In addition, in an instance rarely ever seen in the NFL, Jones will be playing against the same opponent for the second consecutive week, as the Titans lost to the Bills last weekend in his final game with the team and the Seahawks will now host the Bills at Lumen Field on Sunday. While his new team will have some differences in game planning that he will have to adjust to, such circumstances should ease the learning curve having already faced off against Josh Allen and company less than a week ago.
If anything, Macdonald may have the benefit of picking Jones’ brain to help enhance Seattle’s game plan based on what worked well for Tennessee last week, making it a potential win-win for all parties.
“I think it definitely helps with the transition,” Jones remarked. “You got a good idea of what they’re going to come out there and do. You just played them a couple of days ago, so you’re familiar with them. They’re also familiar with you. So correct some wrongs that I had in that game and then go out there and help this team win.”
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Now in his fourth season, Jones relishes the chance to take the mantle from future Hall of Famer Bobby Wagner in the middle. Having learned from the perennial All-Pro when they played together in Los Angeles in 2022, he wants to not only live up to the standard his former teammate set during his 11 seasons starring in the Pacific Northwest, but he wants to “surpass it” as the new face in the middle for the Seahawks.
Such lofty goals may seem unfathomable given Wagner’s status as one of the best players of his era, but Jones has already proven himself as one of the NFL’s best young linebackers. After eclipsing 100 tackles for the first time while playing alongside Wagner two years ago, he enjoyed a career year with the Rams in 2023, racking up 145 tackles, 4.5 sacks, 33 pressures, 14 tackles for loss, and six passes defensed, helping guide the team back to the playoffs while stuffing the stat sheet.
Though his overall numbers have been down in comparison this season with the Titans, Jones still produced 44 tackles, three tackles for loss, and a pair of passes defensed in six games before learning he had been traded again on Wednesday, playing an integral role in the team currently ranking sixth in rushing yards allowed and fourth in yards per carry allowed through Week 7.
A reliable tackler who can make plays sideline to sideline defending the run while also offering elite blitzing skills as a pass rusher, the Seahawks will be counting on Jones to have a similar impact for their defense, which has struggled mightily stopping opposing run games most of this season. During a three-game losing streak from Week 4 to Week 6, they allowed north of 170 rushing yards per game, with Macdonald citing poor run fits from the second level and missed tackles as the primary culprits for those results.
Based on his prior record, Jones should be able to immediately help with both of those issues. Per Pro Football Focus, he only has missed three tackles in the first six games this season and posted a 7.5 percent missed tackle rate last year, which ranked 13th out of 59 qualified off-ball linebackers. He also earned an elite 90.0 run defense grade, fifth-best at his position.
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Confident in his ability between the lines and his presence in the locker room, Jones has wasted little time diving into a new playbook in a new city, excited for the opportunity to prove his worth once again in the heat of a playoff race. With his midseason audition set to kick off on Sunday and much at stake for his family’s future, he’s ready to put everything on the line to help the Seahawks push for a division title and secure a long-term home in the process.
“I’m a dog. That’s what you’re getting. Getting a dog, getting somebody that’s a leader, a true leader. I’m going to go out there each and every week, put my body on the line for my teammates, for this organization, and my family.”
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As Seattle’s month-long role as a host city for the Fifa Men’s World Cup draws to a close with a knockout match between the United States and Belgium, local match-day scenes, business boosters and media dispatches have projected an image of a sports-fueled boom town.
On match days, hordes of locals and visitors have packed the city’s waterfront and official watch parties, shattering public-transit records and buoying nearby beer sales. Local soccer-focused mainstays like the George & Dragon Pub have reported “incredible” increases in business. And, pointing to positive reporting by the Guardian and other international newspapers, Seattle’s business lobby says the city has “performed very, very well on the world stage”.
But the effects – and extent – of Seattle’s Fifa-fueled boom are murky. Some preliminary reports claim tourism volumes to the city are down year over year, struggling to outmatch the volume of visitors Seattle typically sees during its summer high season. Travel costs have spiked after the US-Israeli war on Iran, exacerbated by Fifa’s booking large tranches of hotel rooms, which created artificial scarcity for lodgings and raised prices. Many international visitors, including the city’s once-reliable base of Canadian tourists, have steered clear of Seattle since early 2025, after violent, draconian immigration enforcement and threats by Donald Trump against Canada. And, prior to today’s match, Seattle’s schedule featured many countries whose fans couldn’t attend the World Cup because of the Trump administration’s travel bans, including supporters from Iran and Senegal.
Soccer fans protesting against Iran’s current regime wave the country’s Pahlavi dynasty flag outside a bar near Seattle Stadium on 26 June. Photograph: Mathieu Lewis-Rolland/Getty Images
Pointing to these factors and confronting local economic challenges such as an ongoing wave of tech layoffs, some business owners have reported declining sales and question the cheery forecasts shared by tournament organizers prior to the World Cup. They await a final tally of the tourist volumes and benefits Fifa did or did not bring to Seattle, and wonder how the city’s economy might fare once the alleged boom subsides.
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‘They had hyped us up so much’
In early 2025, Vince Vu, owner of Anh Ơi Bake Shop, a Vietnamese American bakery, began receiving flyers and messages from consultants associated with the World Cup and city government. Seattle’s soccer stadium directly adjoins the city’s downtown core, as well as the Chinatown-International District, and draws large crowds to the area on match days. The consultants explained to Vu and other businesses in the area how they should prepare for a Fifa-induced flux of customers.
“They had hyped us up so much,” Vu said. “We had weekly meetings telling us, ‘Hey … make sure you’re going to double your staff and … double your inventory and do all this stuff, because [the World Cup is] going to be this great thing for the city.’”
The regional tourism board Visit Seattle initially forecast in 2024 that Seattle’s status as a World Cup host city would generate $929m in local economic activity; citing downturns in international travel to the US following Trump’s return to the presidency, Visit Seattle later revised its estimate to $845.6m, projecting a total count of 750,000 visitors over the course of the World Cup.
In the tournament’s opening days, Bloomberg reported that Seattle may be the only US host city to have seen a year-over-year decline in flight bookings, citing data from travel marketing platform Sojern. More recent data complicates that conclusion; Perry Cooper, a spokesperson for Seattle’s primary airport, said that Seattle has been “up in travelers” since the start of the World Cup by at least 3%, including a 4% year-over-year increase in international visitors.
Fans gather at bars before the Fifa World Cup 2026 Group D match between USA and Australia at Seattle Stadium 19 June. Photograph: Jane Gershovich/ISI Photos/Getty Images
Siddhant Bahadur, who manages more than 40 short-term rentals in Seattle, said business has been fairly flat compared with last year’s summer high season for tourism. He thinks the city’s marginal increases in travel volumes during the World Cup are a “telling sign” that tourism to the city is otherwise down due to economic and geopolitical challenges.
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“I think we lost a lot of Canadians, and I think people are worried about the economy and about what’s going on in Washington, and, oh, by the way, we’re at war,” echoed short-term rental owner Marlow Harris, who said she’s seen a 30% hit to business.
In an emailed statement, Visit Seattle’s chief business officer, Kelly Saling, said declines in international tourism since 2024 have been “partially offset” by an increase in domestic tourism, meaning the city has not seen a “drop in forecasted visitors, just a change in the mix”. Local hotels have reported mixed results, with lower occupancy rates than projected, but with large increases in revenue; Fifa booked large blocks of hotel rooms before the World Cup and released them in the weeks leading up to the tournament, generating artificial scarcity and raising prices, according to local business leaders. Saling said hotel booking data has shown “peaks and valleys” around match days, which included a new revenue record on the night preceding the 19 June match between the US and Australia.
To Vu, the World Cup’s peaks have coincided with Anh Ơi Bake Shop’s lowest sales. When the US squared off against the Socceroos, Vu’s business saw just a quarter of its normal sales. Vu said other neighborhood businesses have reported similarly disappointing results: Regular patrons have avoided the neighborhood on match days to avoid traffic, he noted, adding that sports tourists may not be interested in “culturally specific businesses”.
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Soccer fans crowd in to watch the Iran and Egypt match on a giant screen on 26 June. Photograph: Mathieu Lewis-Rolland/Getty Images
The Seattle aquarium has also reported a downturn, despite its location on Seattle’s currently sports fan-saturated waterfront. Emily Malone, a spokesperson for the aquarium, noted a “decrease in attendance” during the tournament, “particularly on match days”. The aquarium has offered promotions for visitors wearing soccer gear, as well as free programs on the waterfront. Overlook Walk, a public park situated on the roof of Seattle Aquarium’s recently constructed pavilion, has drawn large crowds during World Cup watch parties.
A mixed financial picture, but optimism that visitors will return
Scott Stulen, director and CEO of the Seattle Art Museum, began planning for the World Cup in 2024, and expected an uneven increase in footfall across its three locations. The museum’s free sculpture garden along the waterfront received new signage before the World Cup, and currently features a temporary mini-golf course designed by local artists. The sculpture garden has seen its foot traffic more than double, while visitor numbers to its downtown museum have stayed “basically flat”, as Stulen anticipated.
Some variables could not be planned in advance. Seattle’s group-stage matchups “weren’t ideal”, Stulen said, as the city missed out on fanbases that “stay a little bit longer” in host cities. Some World Cup organizers see a handful of teams – Argentina, England and France, among others – as special catalysts of economic activity, featuring dedicated fanbases with the financial means to stay longer in host cities.
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Seattle’s organizers also expected World Cup activity to “spread into the city a little bit more than it has”, though bars and restaurants are “killing it” if they’re located “in the right place”, Stulen said, framing the “positive activity” in downtown Seattle as “a win”.
US fans march together to the Seattle Stadium before the Fifa World Cup 2026 Group D match between USA and Australia on 19 June. Photograph: Jane Gershovich/ISI Photos/Getty Images
Even marginal increases in sales can make a meaningful difference for local businesses preparing to weather future economic volatility, according to Daniel Pagard, who owns the George & Dragon Pub, a local British bar known for screening Premier League games and other international matches. Recent tech layoffs have affected some locals’ finances, and businesses are beginning to note the downstream effects.
“You definitely see a lot of it when people come out,” Pagard said. “Instead of maybe getting two half English breakfasts, they’re splitting one full English, because it saves them a few bucks, and [they’re] turning down that one extra pint before they leave.”
Seattle’s business lobby hopes visitors – and major tournaments – will come back. According to Joe Nguyễn, a former lawmaker who now leads the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, Seattle’s business lobby hosted a trade delegation from Australia during the 19 June match, and expects some foreign direct investment to arise from that initiative. More broadly, he said Seattle has shown it is capable of hosting large-scale sports programming, and can efficiently deploy resources to accommodate large influxes of visitors.
Today’s match against Belgium may be the “craziest sporting event that Seattle’s probably ever seen”, he said. Nguyễn hopes the World Cup will bring the city closer to some of its ambitious goals.
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“Because of our remoteness in the north-west corner, people oftentimes will skip over us on their tours. Now they’ll think twice … I think the NFL will look to here to see if they should have some games, [and] I think this is helpful for us bringing back a basketball team,” he said.
9:20 PM:Seattle Fire has a water-rescue response headed to Alki Avenue and 64th SW after a report of someone hanging onto a capsized watercraft – possibly a kayak, per dispatch – about 50 yards offshore.
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9:29 PM: SFD responders report another kayaker appears to be towing in the person who was in trouble, or trying to.
9:34 PM: Rescuers, including an SFD boat, are deciding where to take the kayaker once he’s out of the water.
9:36 PM: They’re going to move a medic unit and battalion chief to Don Armeni Boat Ramp and take the kayaker there for evaluation.
