LOS ANGELES — By watching Ernest Jones IV at the start of Rams camp – running around the field, encouraging his teammates, celebrating every play made by the defense – you wouldn’t guess how little sleep he got in the two weeks leading up to camp.
Jones and his wife welcomed their first child July 8, a boy named Ernest V. Jones is getting a little break from the night feeds while sleeping in the dorms at Loyola Marymount with the rest of the team, but the new dad is spending all the spare time he has on FaceTime checking on his family.
“It changes my perspective a lot,” Jones said. “One, it’s just a big year for me personally. I always want to take care of my family but now you add that little boy in, my wife. They’re my main priority, they’re the reason why I play this game, why I wake up and I’m so happy to be able to do this. I’m more focused and locked in than I’ve ever been.”
The linebacker is entering the final season of his rookie contract after setting a new Rams single-season record with 145 total tackles in 2023. After Aaron Donald retired and Jordan Fuller left for Carolina via free agency, Jones is the unquestioned leader of the Rams’ defense this summer.
General manager Les Snead acknowledged this back in February, and said he wanted Jones to be a part of the Rams’ future. While Jones said the two sides had some minor conversations this offseason, the Rams opted to spend their cap space in other areas this spring than in a long-term extension for Jones.
“I know that the work that I’ve put in these past three years, I know I’m worthy of something regardless what the worth may be,” Jones said. “I just want to put together a great year. I love to be in L.A., I really want to be here. This is truly where I want to keep my family at, grow my family here. But I also know that there’s a business side of it too that I can’t truly control. We’ll see. Hopefully we can get something done and I can be here for years to come. … And I’m up for the challenge.
“I play football and I’m just excited. I show them another year and I put on another year better than before, that just means that the price goes up.”
Jones has taken steps to ensure a strong follow-up season in 2024. After dealing with a nagging knee injury last year that sidelined him during OTAs and minicamps this spring, Jones changed up his diet. As a result, he cut his weight from 250 to 234 pounds. That’s helped relieve pressure on the knee and has him feeling as healthy as he has in years.
He’s also started taking some of the lessons he learned from watching Donald and incorporating them into his own routines.
“I don’t know why it took me so long to apply it to myself, but everything I’ve seen him do, I’m mimicking and trying to do it myself,” Jones said. “The extra workouts, the extra recovery, the taking care of my body. I’m doing that more than ever now.”
Jones’ lighter weight fits into how he sees the Rams’ defense this coming season. He believes the additions of Jared Verse and Braden Fiske to the defensive front will allow the Rams to play faster and attack offenses.
He’s trying to help pass along advice to Verse, Fiske and the other young players along the defensive front, too, sharing what he wishes he knew as a rookie instead of waiting to learn until Year 4.
With Donald and Fuller gone, Jones is the lone returning captain on the defensive side of the ball.
“I think for me now, my voice is imperative,” Jones said. “If I’m starting practice slow or if I’m in walk throughs playing around, everybody else feels like that’s something that can happen. Vocally, I’m probably more vocal now as I’ve ever been. I enjoy being a leader.”
But once practice and meetings are complete for the day, it’s back to the dorm to check in on wife and child. He knows Ernest V might not be able to fully see his face on the screen yet, but he can see his son reacting to the sound of his voice.
“It gets you back to those humble days when I was a south Georgia boy just hoping and wishing for this opportunity,” Jones said. “Now that I’m here, at times when you have success, you lose that. But that grounded me. And I’m back to that boy that grew up, didn’t have much. So that’s how I’m attacking everything.”
