Getting traded from Tennessee to Baltimore midway through the 2025 regular season meant that Dre’Mont Jones met his future team on two occasions. He played against the New England Patriots as a Titan in October, and then again as a Raven two months later.
In those two games, he was a problem. Jones registered five total quarterback pressures, including one sack of quarterback Drake Maye in each game.
Now a Patriots himself after signing a three-year, $36.5 million contract in free agency, Jones hopes
to have a similar impact. He also wants his sack numbers to go up, and keep pace with the quarterback pressures he managed to produce.
“That’s my top priority. I put all my focus into it,” Jones told reporters at Gillette Stadium last week. “That’s all I train for, really. I don’t have to train for the run because it’s second nature; you’ve been doing it all your life. But pass rushing, I’m always trying to hone it in, watching extra film and doing what I can. I feel like I’ve done a good job. My sack numbers were pretty good last year. My QB hits were great.”
Jones, who appeared in 18 regular season games in 2025, finished with seven sacks as well as 24 quarterback hits. While those numbers are strong, his sacks and hits were not quite on the same level relative to his peers.
The 29-year-old finished the regular season ranked 11th in the league in hits, but only tied for 35th in actual QB takedowns. Unsurprisingly, he sees some room for improvement.
“This year, I want to turn some of those — I had like 25 QB hits — so, hopefully I can turn some of those QB hits into sacks,” he explained.
The Patriots are counting on that, especially in light of their sack leader from last year leaving in free agency. With K’Lavon Chaisson now a Commander, the team lost 10.5 sacks between the regular season and playoffs.
For Jones, reaching double-digit sacks would be a career achievement. For the Patriots, him matching or surpassing Chaisson’s total would go a long way toward playing competitive defensive football again.
This, in turn, would help Jones meet another of his goals: making the playoffs for the first time in his NFL career.
“For me, Step 1 is trying to get to the playoffs for the first time,” he said. “It’s going to be my eighth season and I haven’t been to the playoffs yet. And then I know this team just came out of the Super Bowl. So, hopefully I can be part of the driving force that they can go back to the Super Bowl and I can be a big part of them winning the Super Bowl.”
