For all the ways the Baltimore Ravens failed at edge rusher in 2025, it didn’t seem to impact Dre’Mont Jones in free agency, where the New England Patriots happily handed him a 3-year, $36.5 million contract that will push his career earnings to approximately $87 million.
For a player who has never had double-digit sacks to this point in his 7-year career, that’s a pretty stout payday, and 1 that seems to bet more on what he will do than what he’s done to this point.
ESPN’s Ben Solak thinks Jones has a bigger role to play for the Patriots in 2026, putting him on the list of the NFL’s top “X-Factors” following a surprise run to the Super Bowl in 2025.
The Patriots went after Jones instead of bringing back last year’s top edge rusher, K’Lavon Chaisson, who wound up with the Washington Commanders on a 1-year, $11 million free-agent contract. Their other top edge rusher, Harold Landry, is coming off a serious knee injury and will miss at least the 1st 4 games of the regular season.
“All of these absences converge to place a huge weight on Jones, the versatile edge rusher the Patriots prioritized in free agency over Chaisson and several other options,” Solak wrote on September 4. “Jones had a resurgent season with the Ravens last year after a midseason trade from the Titans; his 11.6% pressure rate last season was his career-best number. The Patriots immediately need Jones’ production if they’re going to have a functional pass rush while (rookie) Gabe Jacas gets up to speed and Landry returns to health.”
Patriots Criticized for Signing Dre’Mont Jones
ESPN’s Seth Walder called out the Patriots for signing edge rusher Dre’Mont Jones away from the Ravens and handed them a “C” grade for the deal.
“Jones, 29, is coming off a season in which he recorded 7.0 sacks — a career high — between his time with the Titans and the Ravens,” Walder wrote in April. “But his down-to-down metrics actually took a slight dip compared to where he was in previous seasons. He put up just a 22nd percentile pass rush win rate at edge in 2025, and a 25th percentile number in run stop win rate at edge. The latter number was higher than K’Lavon Chaisson but still nothing to write home about. Jones’ pressure rate was slightly better, in the 53rd percentile. But we also have a long history of Jones’ play at this point. He has failed to surpass an 11% pass rush win rate at edge in each of the past four years, meaning he was below average in the category in all of those seasons … at over $13 million per year, the contract is not trivial.”
Ravens Made Midseason Move for Dre’Mont Jones
The Ravens traded a conditional 5th-round pick to the Tennessee Titans right before the NFL trade deadline to get Jones in hopes of jump-starting a zombie-like defense.
Jones, 6-foot-3 and 260 pounds, came to the Ravens playing some of the best football of his career but had just 2.5 sacks over the final 8 games of the regular season.
“Sources: The Ravens are trading for Titans edge Dre’Mont Jones, sending a conditional 5th rounder that could possibly become a fourth-rounder,” NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport wrote on November 3. “More defensive help in Baltimore from a player whose has had 4.5 sacks in the last four games.”
“The pick going to Tennessee is the Jets’ 2026 5th-round pick that Baltimore had; but there are conditions in which that pick could become the Ravens’ 2026 4th-round pick,” ESPN’s Adam Schefter wrote on his official X account.
$87 Million Ex-Ravens Star Called ‘X-Factor’ for Patriots