Former South Carolina football great traded after record-breaking 2023 season

South Carolina football alum Ernest Jones is being traded. According to a report from NFL Network analyst Tom Pelissero, linebacker Ernest Jones will be headed from the Los Angeles Rams to the Tennessee Titans in a huge shift in the NFL landscape.

The trade comes on the heels of an interesting back and forth between Jones and the Rams organization in recent days. Reports surfaced that the team was giving Jones' agent an opportunity to find a suitable trade, something that caused the talented linebacker to post about on social media with the message, "I never asked for a trade." Still, just a couple of days later, Ernest Jones is on the move.

Jones, who has been a starter at linebacker for the Rams since the end of his rookie campaign in 2021, has become one of the best linebackers in the National Football League. In 2023, despite playing just 15 games, he set a new all-time record for tackles by a Rams player when he brought down 145 opposing ball carriers.

Even as a rookie, Jones was one of the Rams' three or four best players during the team's Super Bowl LVI victory and could have been in line for Super Bowl MVP honors had it not been for the all-time great performance from wide receiver Cooper Kupp.

With the Titans, Jones will join a team hoping to contend in the AFC South against three other teams that posted a winning record in 2023, including a 10-7 Houston Texans squad that seems to be on the rise.

During his South Carolina football career, Ernest Jones worked his way up from a low three-star recruit out of the state of Georgia into an All-SEC performer and a 3rd round NFL Draft pick. He was one of the best linebackers in Gamecock history.