After a whirlwind journey from Nashville to a Super Bowl ring in Seattle, linebacker Ernest Jones debuts on the prestigious countdown following a dominant All-Pro season.
The NFL Top 100 List is having daily releases from Monday through Friday between now and Aug. 21.
No Tennessee Titans players have been featured yet, but there are definitely a couple of candidates for the list based on last year. I wrote about players I think have a legitimate shot at making the list, including Jeffery Simmons, Peter Skoronski, and Tony Pollard, with a couple of long shots mixed in as well.
So far, Nos. 95-100 have been released, courtesy of NFL.com's Grant Gordon. Former Titans linebacker Ernest Jones came in at No. 97.
"Jones provided a fiery presence for the Super Bowl champions," Gordon said. "Now a two-time Super Bowl winner (his first coming with the Rams), Jones was Seattle's leading tackler in the regular season and playoffs. Perhaps most impressively, the backer led the squad in interceptions with six total, including the postseason. Jones is making his NFL Top 100 debut and is the first member of the reigning Super Bowl champs on the 2026 list. Spoiler alert: He won't be the last."
Jones started his NFL career with the Los Angeles Rams in 2021 after playing college football at South Carolina. He started 33 games and accounted for 320 total tackles, 5.5 sacks and 19 TFLs.
Instead of offering him another contract, the Rams opted to trade him to the Titans in August of 2024 for a 2026 fifth-round pick and a conditional sixth-round pick in exchange.
The head coach at the time, Brian Callahan, put him into the lineup right away. Jones started five games for the Titans before being traded at the deadline to the Seattle Seahawks by General Manager Ran Carthon.
The Titans received Jerome Baker and a 2025 fourth-round pick. Baker didn't stay a Titan for very long, being released and joining the Cleveland Browns in free agency last year.
Thanks to that trade, Jones now has a Super Bowl ring and was named a Second-Team All-Pro for his efforts last season.
Jones just had 126 total tackles, four TFLs, 0.5 sacks and five interceptions last season. The Seahawks awarded him a three-year, $28.5 million extension in 2025, per Spotrac.
The Jones saga was one of the many questionable decisions that Carthon had while with the Titans. Earlier that year, he signed Lloyd Cushenberry, Calvin Ridley, L'Jarius Sneed and Tony Pollard to massive contracts.
Cushenberry and Sneed were never able to play a full season due to injury and are no longer with the organization. Ridley hasn't lived up to his contract yet, but is back on a restructured deal.
Pollard has been a model of consistency, as he just had his fourth-straight 1,000-yard season, something only he and Derrick Henry have done.
Two more players are set to be revealed on Thursday and Friday. Hopefully, by the time this list is fully out, we'll have a few Titans players featured.
