Titans draft moves helped the Seahawks put finishing touches on their Super Bowl defense

One of the Seahawks' starters is LB Ernest Jones, who Seattle acquired before the trade deadline from Tennessee in 2024. Then-GM Ran Carthon had acquired Jones from the Rams before that season for a 2026 5th/6th round pick swap. Jones played really well for the otherwise messy Titans in September and October, then Carthon shipped him to Seattle for LB Jerome Baker and a 2025 4th round pick.

All told, Carthon flipped Jones and a 2026 5th for Jerome Baker, a 2025 4th, and a 2026 6th. This was heralded as a strong maneuver at the time, especially since the Titans were clearly going nowhere fast and Jones was one of their only valuable pieces who could be turned into draft capital. In hindsight, seeing him ball out for Seattle and win a ring might sting just a bit. Including their playoff run, Jones this year tallied 151 total tackles, 5 TFLs, 1 QB hit, 8 passes defended, and a half sack to boot.

The second trade between Tennessee and Seattle came during the 2025 NFL Draft, when the Titans were aggressively pursuing a trade that would give them back a swing in the 3rd Round after burning their own pick on the disastrous L'Jarius Sneed trade. The Titans sent the 35th overall pick to the Seahawks for picks 52 and 82. Seattle was moving up to land their target at safety, the rangy South Carolina product Nick Emmanwori.

How well did he play this season? It can be summed up by the fact that he just missed out on the Defensive Player of the Year award. The rookie recorded 81 total tackles, 9 TFLs, 4 QB hits, 11 passes defended, an interception, and 2.5 sacks. He was a do-it-all chess piece for head coach Mike McDonald who shined out of the gate.

Combining both of these trades with Seattle, the Titans ended up sending Ernest Jones and Nick Emmanwori (35th pick) for LB Jerome Baker, EDGE Femi Oladejo (52nd pick), S Kevin Winston Jr. (82nd pick), and TE Gunnar Helm (4th Round pick). Baker was a flame-out immediately and provided zero value. Helm has so far been the most productive of this bunch, showing a lot of promise as a rookie. He demonstrated exciting chemistry with Cam Ward and proved he had some of the surest hands on the team. His role will increase in 2026 and he'll get the chance to show off a second year leap.

Oladejo and Winston Jr. both had rookie years derailed to an extent by injuries, so the story on them is very TBD. In Winston's six games, he was quite promising. In Oladejo's six games, he left some things to be desired. But both were drafted with a 2-3 year runway in mind more so than being immediate plug-and-play solutions, and they were a part of a really rough unit on a really rough team. So there is reason for hope yet.

But so far, the Titans look a lot worse off in their latest dealings with Seattle than the Seahawks do.