The Rams have given linebacker Ernest Jones permission to seek a trade, as ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reports. Jones is entering the final year of his rookie contract.
Jones’ status as an extension candidate this offseason has been somewhat unclear. Back in March, we heard that Jones was on the club’s extension radar, but GM Les Snead said just a few days later that he would not authorize a new deal for the talented defender in 2024.
Earlier this month, however, Fowler himself reported that Jones is indeed a candidate for a second contract from the Rams, Los Angeles’ general unwillingness to pay big money to an off-ball LB notwithstanding. Fowler’s report from today notes that player and team have discussed an extension but have made no progress on that front. Jourdan Rodrigue of The Athletic adds that the Rams broke off negotiations in the spring (subscription required).
Regardless of when contract talks took place and when they broke down, the upshot is that Snead & Co. are evidently prepared to adhere to their standard operating proecudure when it comes to off-ball ‘backers and let Jones seek his second NFL deal elsewhere. And, considering Jones’ performance to date, there could be a number of clubs interested in his services.
In 2023, Jones recorded 145 tackles and 4.5 sacks across 15 games (all starts) while enjoying a 93% snap share. That production is not a mere byproduct of heavy volume, as the South Carolina alum graded out as the 13th-best linebacker in the league out of 82 qualifiers, per Pro Football Focus’ metrics. Of his 145 tackles, 14 of them were behind the line of scrimmage.
Jones, 24, is also Los Angeles’ defensive play-caller, so the club would need to get someone else to fill that role if a trade is consummated. According to Rodrigue, the Rams’ willingness to move Jones may be at least partially informed by the emergence of UDFA rookie Omar Speights, whom Snead said will make the team. If Snead has decided that a Jones extension is too expensive for the Rams, he may believe that recovering some draft capital for him now while getting an extended look at Speights is more valuable than retaining Jones for one more season.
However, given Jones’ talent and obvious importance to the Rams’ defense, it would seemingly take a rather strong trade offer to pry him away from a club that qualified for the playoffs last year and is eyeing another postseason run in 2024. Perhaps this is a case of a GM allowing other teams to establish a player’s market before extending an offer of his own — after all, interested clubs would surely want to have a multiyear deal in place with Jones before pulling the trigger on a trade — but in any event, Rodrigue says the situation is fluid. In other words, neither a trade nor an extension is imminent.