ExtremeRavens Posted Tuesday at 07:01 PM Posted Tuesday at 07:01 PM Roughly 20 hours before Tuesday’s 4 p.m. NFL trade deadline, the Ravens made an unsurprising move to bolster their defensive front. They traded for Tennessee Titans edge rusher Dre’Mont Jones in exchange for a conditional fifth-round draft pick. Here are five things to know about Baltimore’s new player: Jones brings versatility up front The 6-foot-3, 281-pound Jones is in his second season as a full-time edge rusher. That’s after playing more interior defensive lineman early in his career, as he did in college. Jones can do both, playing up on two feet or with a hand in the dirt. The Ravens need that versatility, with long-term injuries to Nnamdi Madubuike and Broderick Washington on the inside and Tavius Robinson on the outside. Former Ravens defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald, who coached Jones in Seattle for one season, had this to say last summer: “I think his skill set lends to trying to play a little matchup ball with him or setting another guy up. He can do a lot of things. We’ve talked about it, but we’re really excited about Dre’Mont.” Jones had four sacks in 2024 while playing through a shoulder injury. He started slow this season, then rattled off 4 1/2 sacks in four games before being dealt to the team tied for the second fewest sacks in the NFL (11). Jones’ 19 pressures this season are four more than Travis Jones, who leads the Ravens, according to Pro Football Focus. Jones arrived in Tennessee with a chip on his shoulder When the Seahawks signed Jones in 2023, his three-year deal worth up to $51 million became the largest contract in terms of annual average value Seattle had agreed to with another team’s free agent under coach Pete Carroll and general manager John Schneider. They waived him two years later to create cap space. Jones has said that he has no hard feelings about how his time in Seattle ended. He landed in Tennessee with a chip on his shoulder. “I am seven years in now,” he said in August. “I need to be a tone-setter, I need to be a leader. It’s what I want to do, and it’s what I want to be — I want to be that guy. I am ready to embrace it. “I am not old; I am 28. It’s not like I am 32, heck, 32 isn’t old. I’m not 36 or 37. But I definitely want to prove myself, and I want to remind other teams who didn’t want me anymore that I am still a hell of a player.” Baltimore’s deal comes with a twist The Ravens sent Tennessee a 2026 conditional fifth-round pick in exchange for Jones. That pick was originally the New York Jets’ fifth-rounder. But if the Ravens make the playoffs, completing a turnaround after their 1-5 start, and Jones contributes at least two sacks in the final nine games of the regular season, it will reportedly become a fourth-round pick for the Titans. On Monday, hours before the deal for Jones crossed the finish line, Harbaugh was asked whether the defensive line would be an area he’d like to add depth. He was curt, saying, “Yes, we’ll see.” A freak injury brought Jones back to Ohio State for an extra year After one Buckeyes practice in 2017, Jones was partaking in what he called “normal after-practice shenanigans.” The roughhousing ended when Ohio State’s star defensive lineman ran into a nail jetting out from a locker that tore into his leg so deeply that the bone became visible. Jones needed 50 stitches and missed three games. He returned to finish out the season and was still a projected top-50 draft pick. But the freak injury complicated his draft stock. Losing his grandmother that same year made a hard season that much tougher. Jones chose to stay for a third and final season at Ohio State, where he played primarily as an interior defensive lineman between two elite pass rushers, Nick Bosa and Chase Young. Jones finished the year with 43 total tackles and 8 1/2 sacks. He capped his college career with a Rose Bowl win on New Year’s Day 2019 and was drafted in the third round by the Denver Broncos a few months later. Jones is very, very strong In December 2024, the Seahawks posted a clip on social media following what became a popular trend around the NFL: testing players’ grip strength. One Seattle tight end was hyped to hit 112 pounds. An offensive tackle got 146. A defensive tackle needed two hands to reach 170. Then Jones stepped up, put all his might into that little machine and cleared 200. For reference, the Ravens did the same trivial challenge last August. Washington touched 180 and Robinson got to 169. Ben Cleveland was the only one to top 190. No one matched Jones’ grip strength. Surely that helps in evading offensive linemen to get hands on the quarterback. Have a news tip? Contact Sam Cohn at scohn@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/samdcohn. The Ravens sent the Titans a 2026 conditional fifth-round pick in exchange for Dre'Mont Jones. (Michael Conroy/AP) View the full article Quote
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