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

Comfortable playing anywhere across the defensive line, the Seattle Seahawks have cut Dre'Mont Jones loose off the edge over the past few weeks after the acquisition of Leonard Williams, providing a viable solution to the team's run defense woes post-Uchenna Nwosu's season-ending injury.

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.

Primarily playing inside in 3-tech and 4i-tech alignments early in the season, the Seahawks have started to play Dre'Mont Jones outside more with great success :: © Sam Greene/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK

Before Nwosu's injury, as Carroll affirmed, Seattle didn't intend for Jones to play outside much at all. In the first six games, he played a grand total of 21 snaps outside of the tackle compared to 187 snaps covering the B-gap as a defensive end. Even in Williams' debut against Baltimore two weeks ago, the majority of his 36 snaps came inside.

But after the Ravens gashed the Seahawks for nearly 300 rushing yards in a 37-3 blowout, with Williams, Jarran Reed, and Mario Edwards ready to rotate inside, Carroll and Hurtt decided to turn to Jones as a means for mitigating Nwosu's absence as a run defender setting a firm edge. Turning in one of his best performances for his new team, the ex-Ohio State standout thrived back in his comfortable role of multiplicity, finishing with four pressures, half a sack, two quarterback hits, and a run stop.

As Carroll noted, such a move wouldn't have been feasible without Williams being added to the fold, as the nine-year veteran instantly bolstered depth inside and his willingness to handle the dirty work in the trenches has a positive ripple effect on all of his teammates around him. With him absorbing double teams and drawing plenty of attention, he helped Boye Mafe and Jones both register sacks in Sunday's victory.

"He’s got the ability to help guys around him as well as do his own thing," Carroll said of Williams. "We’re just learning him, but we’re really excited about it. To get a sack too, he was really proud of that too. He’s just getting going, but we’re really excited about him. There’s nothing that he can’t do, he can really play the position.”

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Moving forward, Jones' usage will likely vary by week depending on opponent and the corresponding game plan. As demonstrated on Sunday, he will continue to see plenty of action reduced inside in 3-tech and 4i-tech alignments, where his athleticism and penetrating ability create major issues for guards and centers both in pass protection and as run blockers. This may especially be the case in pass rushing situations, where he and Williams can wreak havoc playing together in the interior.

But with Clark and Darrell Taylor better suited for a situational pass rushing role than being every down outside linebackers and rookie Derick Hall still learning as he gains experience, it may be in the Seahawks best interest to maximize Jones' value right now playing significant snaps off the edge across from a rising star in Mafe. With the presence of Williams alongside Reed and Edwards inside, the team has enough horses to afford to play him elsewhere to get the most out of their current personnel.

"Losing Uchenna [Nwosu], we pick up a little bit of something there that we weren’t planning on until Leonard [Williams] showed up," Carroll said. "I think Dre did a nice job yesterday, he pressured well yesterday. He played about half in and half out, so it was good.”