With just 11 sacks on the season and only three outside linebackers on the current 53-man roster, the Ravens needed both quality and quantity at edge rusher ahead of Tuesday’s trade deadline.
They’ll hope veteran Dre’Mont Jones can provide some of both.
Baltimore is set to acquire the 28-year-old from Tennessee in exchange for a conditional 2026 fifth-round pick that can become a fourth-round selection, according to ESPN and NFL Network. Jones is in the midst of one of the best stretches of his career after collecting 4 1/2 sacks in his last four games with the Titans. He set season highs with 1 1/2 sacks and four quarterback hits and was credited with seven pressures by Pro Football Focus in Tennessee’s loss to the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday.
A 2019 third-round pick out of Ohio State for Denver, the 6-foot-3, 281-pound Jones began his career as a defensive tackle and brings more physicality to the edge as both a run defender and pass rusher who can move around the defensive front, which is notable with Baltimore also struggling to pressure the pocket from the interior. He has collected four or more sacks in each of the last six seasons and has appeared in at least 13 games in each of his seven NFL campaigns.
The acquisition of Jones coupled with head coach John Harbaugh saying Monday that Carl Lawson is “probably ready to go” after joining Baltimore’s practice squad two weeks ago will give the Ravens two more veterans to go with the 34-year-old Kyle Van Noy and second-round rookie Mike Green. With Odafe Oweh being traded to the Chargers in early October and Tavius Robinson suffering a fractured foot in Week 6, Baltimore has been forced to use David Ojabo more extensively, but the 2022 second-round pick hasn’t taken advantage of opportunities and is now in danger of falling out of the outside linebacker rotation.
Jones signed a one-year, $8.5 million contract with Tennessee this past offseason, but that included a $6 million signing bonus, which means the Ravens will owe him only the remainder of a $1.99 million base salary and $510,000 in per-game roster bonuses.
