Just minutes into the NFL’s legal tampering period, the New England Patriots signed their first external free agent. Outside linebacker Dre’Mont Jones, who split the 2025 season between Tennessee and Baltimore, was brought aboard on a three-year contract worth a base value of $36.5 million.
The maximum value of the contract, however, is slightly higher than that. Jones also will have the opportunity to earn an extra $1 million per year through incentives tied to his playing time.
Those incentives,
according to a report by Ben Volin of the Boston Globe, are structured as follows:
ED Dre’Mont Jones: Contract incentives
Maximum incentives: $3,000,000
2026: Up to $1,000,000
$250,000: 60% defensive snaps
$250,000: 65% defensive snaps
$250,000: 70% defensive snaps
$250,000: 75% defensive snaps
2027: Up to $1,000,000
$250,000: 60% defensive snaps
$250,000: 65% defensive snaps
$250,000: 70% defensive snaps
$250,000: 75% defensive snaps
2028: Up to $1,000,000
$250,000: 60% defensive snaps
$250,000: 65% defensive snaps
$250,000: 70% defensive snaps
$250,000: 75% defensive snaps
Jones’ contract incentives are nothing out of the ordinary, and will allow him to add an extra $250,000 with every escalator he hits. That said, those escalators mean that the first two levels of his 2026 incentives are considered likely to be earned (LTBE): Jones played a combined 68% of his teams’ defensive snaps during the 2025 season.
As a consequence of that classification, his salary cap number this year increases by $500,000 and now stands at $7.547 million. Besides the LTBE incentives, it also consists of a $2.3 million base salary, $3.667 million signing bonus proration, $1.02 million roster bonus and $60,000 workout bonus. The other $500,000 of incentives are considered not likely to be earned (NLTBE).
If Jones fails to reach the likely-to-be-earned incentives in 2026, the Patriots will get an appropriate credit on their 2027 salary cap of either $250,000 or $500,000. Likewise, if he hits one or both of the final two NLTBE escalators, New England’s cap will be charged up to $500,000 extra next year.
