Cornerback Josh Jobe went from being released by the Philadelphia Eagles at the end of the training camp to starting for the Seattle Seahawks in the 2024 NFL season.
The former Alabama defensive back was rewarded for his rebound on Thursday, when the Seahawks announced they had re-signed Jobe for the 2025 season.
Jobe was on course to become a restricted free agent or even an unrestricted free agent next week. If Seattle had used an RFA tender on him, Jobe still could have negotiated with other teams, with the Seahawks retaining their right to match his best offer.
Instead, Seattle signed Jobe to a new contract. Terms were not disclosed. Had the Seahawks tendered Jobe at the lowest RFA tier – right of first refusal – they would have paid the cornerback $3.263 million for the 2025 season if he had chosen to stay with team.
“I’m very excited to be back,” Jobe told the NFL team’s official website. “I felt like I had a breakout season last year, and I’ve got to keep it going. I’m not done yet. I’ve still got more to prove.”
The Eagles cut Jobe when they reduced their preseason roster to the regular-season limit of 53 active players. After two seasons with Philadelphia, Jobe joined the Seahawks as a practice-squad member and did not play in the first six games of the 2024 campaign.
Jobe made his Seattle debut as a practice-squad elevation on Oct. 20 in a 34-14 victory over the Atlanta Falcons, and he played in the Seahawks’ next two games in that manner, too.
Jobe was in the starting lineup for his 2024 debut and played 165 snaps in his three games while on the practice squad. In the Seahawks’ 31-10 loss to the Buffalo Bills on Oct. 22, Jobe picked off quarterback Josh Allen and had a 33-yard return on his first NFL interception.
Because a practice-squad player cannot be elevated to active status more than three times in a season, Seattle signed Jobe to its 53-man active roster on Nov. 11 so he could keep playing. Over the next six games, he started five times before landing on injury reserve for the season finale after sustaining a knee injury.
Jobe played in 11 regular-season games and Super Bowl LVII as an undrafted rookie in 2022 for the Eagles. In 2023, he played in every game, with three starts, for Philadelphia and was one of the NFL’s most active special-teams players, with 323 special-teams plays.
In 2024, Jobe played 443 defensive snaps – 191 more than in his first two seasons combined. He recorded 37 tackles, including 29 solo stops, and broke up seven passes.
Jobe was a starter in the Alabama secondary in his final two seasons with the Crimson Tide, including for the 2020 undefeated CFP national-championship team.
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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X at@AMarkG1.