NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The Tennessee Titans made their second trade Wednesday by swapping linebackers with Seattle, sending Ernest Jones to the Seahawks for linebacker Jerome Baker, a person familiar with the deal told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
The deal also includes Seattle sending a fourth-round pick to Tennessee, a person with knowledge of the deal told the AP. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the teams haven’t announced the trade.
That ends a very short stay in Tennessee for Jones after the Rams traded him in late August. He is in the final year of his rookie contract as a third-round draft pick in 2021 out of South Carolina. He helped the Rams win a Super Bowl in his rookie season and led them in tackles as the defensive signal-caller last season.
Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald said that Jones will likely play middle linebacker, with fellow linebacker Tyrel Dodson shifting to the weakside. Macdonald expects Jones to be ready to play Sunday against the Buffalo Bills.
“A guy that we’ve had respect for for a long time,” Macdonald said. “Just a really good football player all the way around. I remember seeing him making plays in the Super Bowl, that was probably the first time he kind of got on my map. Just excited to get him here and get him rolling.”
Baker signed a one-year, $7 million contract this past March after visiting with Tennessee. He spent his first six years with Miami. He had 30 combined tackles and one sack in five games this season. Baker missed two games after injuring his hamstring in Seattle’s Week 2 win over New England.
The Jones’ trade alone nets the Titans a fourth-round pick in April and a sixth-rounder in 2026 along with Baker at the cost of a fifth-rounder in 2026.
Earlier Wednesday, Tennessee agreed to a deal sending three-time All-Pro wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins to the two-time defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs needing to replenish a position group ravaged by injuries.
AP Pro Football Writer Rob Maaddi and AP freelance writer Shane Lantz in Renton, Washington, contributed to this report.
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL
San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle, right, runs the ball against Seattle Seahawks linebacker Jerome Baker, left, during the second half of an NFL football game Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024 in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
Buffalo Bills running back James Cook, left, runs for a touchdown past Tennessee Titans linebacker Ernest Jones IV (53) during the first half of an NFL football game Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024, in Orchard Park, N.Y. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey’s air force struck Kurdish militant targets in Iraq and Syria on Wednesday in an apparent retaliation for an attack at a key state-run defense company that killed five people and wounded more than a dozen others.
The defense ministry said more than 30 targets were “destroyed” in the aerial offensive, without providing details on the locations that were hit. It said “all kinds of precautions” were taken to prevent harms to civilians.
The strike came hours after suspected Kurdish militants set off explosives and opened fire at the aerospace and defense company TUSAS. The two attackers — a man and a woman — also were killed, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said.
Yerlikaya said the militant Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, was believed to be behind the attack at the defense company. Defense Minister Yasar Guler also pointed the finger at the PKK.
“We give these PKK scoundrels the punishment they deserve every time. But they never come to their senses,” Guler said. “We will pursue them until the last terrorist is eliminated.”
There was no immediate statement from the PKK.
The Islamic State group and leftist extremists have also carried out past attacks in Turkey.
"I condemn this heinous terrorist attack,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of a BRICS meeting in Russia.
Putin offered condolences. A U.S. Embassy statement said Washington “strongly condemns today’s terrorist attack."
TUSAS designs, manufactures and assembles civilian and military aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles and other defense industry and space systems. Its UAVs have been instrumental in Turkey gaining an upper hand in its fight against Kurdish militants.
The attack occurred a day after the leader of Turkey’s far-right nationalist party that's allied with Erdogan raised the possibility that the PKK's imprisoned leader could be granted parole if he renounces violence and disbands his organization.
Abdullah Ocalan's group has been fighting for autonomy in southeast Turkey in a conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people since the 1980s. It is considered a terrorist group by Turkey and its Western allies.
The country's pro-Kurdish political party, which also condemned the attack, noted that it had occurred at a time when the possibility of a dialogue to end the conflict had emerged.
Turkish media said the assailants arrived Wednesday at an entry to the TUSAS complex in a taxi. The assailants, carrying assault weapons, detonated an explosive device next to the taxi, causing panic and allowing them to enter.
One of the victims was identified as mechanical engineer Zahide Guclu, who had gone to the entrance to collect flowers sent by her husband, the state-run Anadolu Agency.
The taxi driver was also killed by the assailants and his body was found in the trunk of the vehicle, the agency reported.
Orhan Akdundar, a brother of one the TUSAS employees, was among relatives waiting outside the complex for news of their loved ones.
“I called my brother who was inside and said, ‘What happened?’ He said a bomb had exploded and said that gunshots continued for a very long time,” Akdundar said. “There was a huge commotion. The gendarmerie, special forces and other security forces were all here. There were lots of ambulances. Then the phones shut off and I wasn’t able to establish communication.”
An unidentified TUSAS employee shouted: “We will work harder and produce more in defiance of the traitors” as he and other colleagues were being evacuated from the premises, according to a video aired by HaberTurk.
Security camera images, aired on television, showed a man in plainclothes carrying a backpack and holding an assault rifle.
The interior minister said security teams were dispatched as soon as the attack started at around 3:30 p.m.
Multiple gunshots were heard after security forces entered the site, the DHA news agency and other media reported. Helicopters were seen flying above the premises.
Authorities issued a temporary blackout on the coverage of the attack and went on to throttle access to social media websites.
Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz said the target of the attack was Turkey's “success in the defense industry.”
The Iraqi embassy in Ankara issued a statement condemning the attack. It said the embassy “affirms Iraq’s firm position in rejecting terrorism and extremism in all its forms and manifestations, and expresses the solidarity of Iraq’s government and people, with the government and people of the Republic of Turkey.” Earlier this year, Iraq announced a ban on the PKK.
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte and U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres both expressed their solidarity with Turkey.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis also denounced the attack. "Our thoughts and heartfelt condolences go out to the families of the victims,” he said on X.
Associated Press writer Robert Badendieck in Hamburg, Germany, contributed.
Ambulances wait in line outside of Turkish Aerospace Industries Inc. at the outskirts of Ankara, Turkey, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024. (AP Photo)
Ambulances wait in line outside of Turkish Aerospace Industries Inc. at the outskirts of Ankara, Turkey, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024. (AP Photo)
Ambulances wait in line outside of Turkish Aerospace Industries Inc. at the outskirts of Ankara, Turkey, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024. (AP Photo)
Emergency and security teams are deployed outside of Turkish Aerospace Industries Inc. at the outskirts of Ankara, Turkey, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024. (AP Photo)
Emergency and security teams are deployed outside of Turkish Aerospace Industries Inc. at the outskirts of Ankara, Turkey, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024. (AP Photo)
In this image take from security camera video shows two people with guns and backpacks during an attack on the premises of the Turkish state-run aerospace and defence company (TUSAS ), on the outskirts of Ankara, Turkey, Wednesday Oct. 23, 2024. (Validated UGC via AP)
Emergency and security teams are deployed outside of Turkish Aerospace Industries Inc. at the outskirts of Ankara, Turkey, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024. (Yavuz Ozden/Dia Photo via AP)
People gather outside of the Turkish Aerospace Industries Inc. on the outskirts of Ankara, Turkey, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024. (Yavuz Ozden/Dia Photo via AP)
People gather outside of the Turkish Aerospace Industries Inc. on the outskirts of Ankara, Turkey, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024. (Yavuz Ozden/Dia Photo via AP)
People gather outside of Turkish Aerospace Industries Inc. at the outskirts of Ankara, Turkey, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Mert Gokhan Koc)
Emergency and security teams are deployed outside the Turkish state-run aerospace and defense company Turkish Aerospace Industries Inc. on the outskirts of Ankara, Turkey, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024. (Yavuz Ozden/Dia Photo via AP)
Smoke raises as emergency rescue teams and police officers attend outside Turkish Aerospace Industries Inc. on the outskirts of Ankara, Turkey, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024. (IHA via AP)
Emergency rescue teams and police officers work outside of Turkish Aerospace Industries Inc. on the outskirts of Ankara, Turkey, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024. (IHA via AP)
