Division Double Agents

Cooper Kupp and Ernest Jones can help shift the tide against the Rams

If the Seahawks get swept by the Rams this season, it will officially end a once dominant reign over their division rivals: The Rams will take a 29-28 series advantage, including playoffs.

Could Cooper Kupp and Ernest Jones become the double agents that Seattle needs in order to gain intel on Sean McVay and defensive coordinator Chris Shula that puts the Seahawks back over the top? That alone would be worth the $41 million guaranteed that Seattle put into those two players this offseason.

Rams-Seahawks series

The Seahawks hold a 28-25 regular season advantage thanks to a run from 2005 to 2013 that included 16 wins against only 2 losses. However, Seattle is 0-2 all time in the playoffs against the Rams and they are 6-11 against L.A. since McVay took over in 2017.

The Seahawks are also 0-5 against the Rams when Matthew Stafford is starting.

Another player who has experienced mostly success against Seattle is Kupp, as the Rams went 9-3 against the Seahawks when he was able to start and he had at least 90 yards in five of those games. Now he’ll be playing for the right side.

Ernest Jones has not been around as long as either of those players, but the Rams went 4-2 against Seattle during his tenure there and they held the Seahawks under 20 points in five of those six contests, including a 19-16 loss to Seattle in OT. Jones was able to face the Rams twice last year and the Seahawks went 1-1, with L.A.’s win going to OT and Seattle’s win coming in a meaningless game against Jimmy Garoppolo.

Now that Jones will have a full offseason with the Seahawks and Kupp will be suiting up for a new team for the first time in his career, could Seattle get that one extra win against the Rams that tips the division in their favor?

Seahawks usually need just one more win against Rams

Seattle’s 2024 season was flipped on its head in Week 9 when they lost 26-20 to the Rams in overtime.

• A win would have made the Seahawks 5-4 going into the BYE and 1-1 in the division

• The loss made the Seahawks 4-5 and 0-2 in the division

Although Seattle won four straight games after the BYE, including 3-0 against the NFC West (49ers, Cardinals, Cardinals), they would be almost mathematically eliminated unless they beat either the Packers or Vikings in Week 15-16.

The Seahawks got obliterated by the Packers and then let Sam Darnold throw his best pass of the season against them to lose 27-24.

A win over the Rams in Week 9 and the tone of Week 18 is completely different. Who knows who wins the NFC West in that case.

Go back to 2023 and the Seahawks went 9-8 in Geno Smith’s second season as the starter. They opened the season by losing to the Rams 30-13, but could have salvaged everything if they had beaten the Rams in Week 11. Instead, Seattle blew a 16-7 lead in the fourth quarter to lose 17-16…

The Seahawks finished 9-8, the Rams finished 10-7 and made the playoffs. The “what if?” scenario is easy math.

The 2022 season practically doesn’t count because every key Rams player ended up on IR, including Stafford, Kupp, and Aaron Donald.

The 2021 season fell apart because Russell Wilson injured his hand on Donald’s helmet.

The Seahawks won the division in 2020, only to wind up embarrassed in the wild card (30-20 but it was 30-13 going into the final minutes) against a Rams team that had an imploding relationship between McVay and Jared Goff. They managed to find one more win together, which OF COURSE came against the Seahawks in a playoff game.

This goes back more seasons than 2020, but we all get the point:

The last 10 years of the Seahawks would look a lot different if not usually for one or two losses to the Rams every season.

Is it not too late for Kupp to bring whatever that is from L.A. to Seattle?

A rare opportunity to Rams intel

Forgive me for possibly missing a name or two if it happens, but I believe this is the first time since 2021 that the Seahawks have added players to their roster who were drafted by either the Rams, 49ers, or Cardinals. In 2021, the Seahawks employed these players:

• DT Robert Nkemdiche (drafted by Cardinals in 2016)

• TE Gerald Everett (drafted by Rams in 2017)

• CB D.J. Reed (drafted by 49ers in 2018)

I don’t think these additions moved the needle much in terms of intel (and it’s hard to tell because of Wilson’s injury that season) and that’s largely because Nkemdiche was an inconsequential addition; Everett was as disappointing in Seattle as he was in L.A.; Reed was a great find and actually the Seahawks went 4-0 against the 49ers during his tenure.

For whatever reason, probably coincidence, Seattle didn’t go add other division rival players (unless they were undrafted free agents or free agents that I’m overlooking right now which is probable) in 2022 or 2023. Then last year, the Seahawks traded for Jones midseason, but only after he made a brief stop with the Tennessee Titans.

Now that they’ve re-signed Jones and added Kupp, the Seahawks have arguably two of the most important players on either side of the ball for the Rams.

As much as Odell Beckham, Jr. gets overrated by young receivers because of how dominant he was for a short period of time (don’t get me wrong, OBJ was amazing), it’s good to see Ja’Marr Chase put Kupp on his Mount Rushmore despite Kupp’s best seasons being lumped together from 2019-2021:

Nobody doubts that Kupp is a great receiver, but they do doubt if he’ll be as good at 32 as he was at 28 (his last Pro Bowl season) and if he’ll stay healthy. Luckily, age or not / injury or not, Kupp provides more insight into McVay’s mind than any other player who the Seahawks have ever had before.

As for Jones, he has some drawbacks as a linebacker. He’s more like a top-15 linebacker than a top-5 linebacker. But he proved to be a massive upgrade to Seattle’s other options last season, especially against the run, and the Seahawks liked him enough to pay $9 million per season to avoid another search.

Jones was traded before he ever played a single down for DC Chris Shula. Does he have an axe to grind against the Rams for trading him instead of paying him?

He’s had two opportunities to play against them once, but his biggest regret was not being able to win the division over L.A. last season. He’s also faced McVay’s offense in practice over and over again in the previous four years, so that’s better insight than perhaps even when Bobby Wagner returned to the Seahawks for a year.

As nice as it would feel to say that the Seahawks don’t “need” to beat the Rams to win the division, we know that’s almost never the case. In fact, the Seahawks may need to sweep them to do it. That’s what they needed in 2024 and it’s potentially what they’ll need again in 2025.

Last time they didn’t have Cooper Kupp. Even if they only get 60% of what he once was a player on the field, could it be worth having 100% of his intel on beating the Seahawks during his career as a Ram?

Seaside Joe 2288