RENTON — For the most part, Josh Jones was invisible.
And for the Seahawks, that was a very good thing.
“Been a while for me starting, so that was fun, too. Going out there, playing with my brothers — it was fantastic, man,” Jones said. “And we got the win. That was the most important thing.”
With Charles Cross dealing with a hamstring injury, Jones made his first start in a Seahawks uniform last week against the Rams.
And the likelihood is that Jones will make it two straight starts Sunday in Carolina as it appears Cross may not be quite ready to reclaim his spot at left tackle.
Cross was again listed as not participating in practice Thursday. The Seahawks did not actually practice, taking the day off so they could celebrate Christmas with their families, having practiced on Tuesday, instead.
But the league required the team to produce an injury report and Cross was again DNP, strongly indicating he’ll be out again against the Panthers.
Jones was in for all 68 offensive plays in the overtime victory over the Rams.
And outside of a little fatigue, the consensus was Jones more than held his own filling in for Cross. Jones finished with a 75.9 grade from Pro Football Focus, the third highest of any Seahawks offensive player and the highest for him since Week 12 of the 2022 season while playing for Arizona against the Chargers.
“I feel like I played pretty decent, but there are a lot of things I can get better at,” Jones said. “There’s a couple of plays which I can do a couple of things better, but that’s just me being a competitor. I’m always looking at the tape with open eyes and see all the little things I could have done better.”
Up until last Thursday, there wasn’t much tape for Jones in a Seahawks uniform. His activity this season was mostly limited to being used as a swing tackle when an extra lineman was needed or the couple of blowouts when backups were given time on the field.
But to Jones’ credit, he stepped up to the challenge of facing the Rams’ talented defensive line, and most notably keeping edge rusher Jared Verse from completely disrupting the game.
Verse was credited with 0.5 sacks and two QB hits in his 58 snaps.
Jones said he started to get a little bit tired in the fourth quarter, which is understandable after going more than two calendar years since last starting a game. The entire fourth quarter and overtime was an emotional roller coaster even for the steadiest offensive linemen.
“That was tough grinding and I was a little tired, but we just kept fighting, kept stacking, kept staying together,” Jones said. “It was no flinch on the sideline from either side of the ball. It was just we were going to stay at it.”
Panthers CB Jackson recalls Seattle trade
The Seahawks and Panthers both have plenty on the line Sunday.
Seattle can clinch the NFC West with a win, a Rams loss or tie at Atlanta on Monday night and a 49ers loss or tie to the Bears on Sunday night. Seattle also has the unlikely scenario of clinching the No. 1 seed with a win and the 49ers-Bears game ending in a tie.
The Panthers, meanwhile, can win the NFC South by beating Seattle if Tampa Bay loses at Miami.
But one Carolina player — cornerback Mike Jackson — may also have a little personal point to prove.
Jackson was a member of the Seahawks during Pete Carroll’s final three seasons from 2021-23, starting 21 games and playing in 36 overall, before being traded to Carolina late during training camp in 2024.
Jackson was traded shortly before the roster cutdown to 53 with the Seahawks having something of a numbers crunch at cornerback, specifically wanting to keep Dee Williams and rookie fifth-round pick Nehemiah Pritchett.
Jackson, meanwhile, had fallen behind Tre Brown in the battle for third cornerback, with Devon Witherspoon and Riq Woolen entrenched as starters.
Instead of potentially cutting Jackson and getting nothing in return, the Seahawks dealt him for rookie linebacker Michael Barrett, Carolina’s seventh-round pick, who had played for Macdonald at Michigan during Macdonald’s one season as a defensive coordinator for the Wolverines in 2021 and was a team captain during Michigan’s national-championship run.
At Michigan, Barrett had also played for Seahawks special-teams coordinator Jay Harbaugh and outside linebackers coach Chris Partridge, and the Seahawks envisioned Barrett as a player who might be worth taking a shot on as a potential special-teamer and linebacker depth.
Barrett, though, didn’t last long, waived at the roster cutdown and was cut from the practice squad shortly thereafter. He has bounced around since then but has not played in an NFL game and is not currently on an NFL roster, having recently signed with the Birmingham Stallions of the United Football League.
Jackson, meanwhile, has thrived in Carolina, starting all 32 games the past two seasons, tied for the league lead with 17 passes defensed and having the 12th-highest grade of any cornerback this season from Pro Football Focus and the fifth-best coverage grade.
“Oh yeah, they got rid of me for a bag of chips,” Jackson told Carolina media this week.
Jackson, though, insisted he has no ill will toward Seattle.
“So it’s just kind of like, you don’t get mad, you never get mad when somebody shows you how they feel about you,” he said. “So we just kind of take it and keep going. I’m still in the league. I’m still playing ball, so nothing to be mad about.”
Still, he might be happy to prove a point.
“It’s just bet on yourself. I’ve been in this league. I done bounced around,” Jackson said. “I’ve been places, I’ve had coaches laugh in my face, all that. But at the end of the day, I know who I am. So on Sunday, I just come to show up, come ready to play, and that’s when you do all your talking.”