RENTON, Wash. – Rolling into year one of the Mike Macdonald era, few Seattle Seahawks players garnered more positive excitement about playing in the defensive guru’s renowned scheme than versatile defender Dre’Mont Jones.
Primarily playing inside for most of his first season in Seattle, Jones cut his weight into the mid-260s during the offseason to make the transition to playing outside linebacker full-time. Upon his arrival for mandatory minicamp in June, he looked like a man on a mission, primed for a breakout season in a scheme that would better accentuate his strengths while starring on a fortified defensive line now including Byron Murphy II and Johnathan Hankins.
However, Jones suffered a hamstring strain in the Seahawks third training camp practice, and he wound up missing the remainder of camp, which may have contributed to a slower start than anticipated. Through the team’s first six games, though he had produced 17 quarterback pressures, he only had two sacks and three tackles for loss, failing to make the type of game-changing impact expected from one of the team’s highest-paid players.
But with Murphy back in the lineup after missing three games with a hamstring injury of his own and Roy Robertson-Harris making his team debut coming to town from Jacksonville to bolster the trenches, Jones finally came to life in Atlanta on Sunday. Taking over for the Seahawks up front with a dominant performance in a 34-14 win over the Falcons, Macdonald has seen the veteran’s confidence grow in recent weeks as he has found his footing in a new scheme and role…