New England reinforce the interior
The Patriots are signing free agent defensive tackle DaQuan Jones to a one-year contract worth up to $6 million, NFL Network reported today. The deal carries a $3.5 million base salary.
New England sit 0-1 after losing their opener. Mike Vrabel answered by adding a 12-year veteran who has started essentially every game he has dressed for over the past four seasons.
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Four years of Buffalo, and a familiar coach
Jones spent those four seasons with the Bills, the AFC East rival New England will face twice. He started all 51 of his games in Buffalo and produced 10 sacks, 31 quarterback hits and 99 tackles.
Vrabel coached him before. The two overlapped in Tennessee from 2018 to 2020, back when the Titans were building a defence around run-stopping interior linemen. The Titans drafted Jones in the fourth round out of Penn State in 2014 and kept him seven seasons.
His full ledger reads 167 games, 161 of them starts, across Tennessee, Carolina in 2021 and Buffalo. He has recorded 20 sacks, 372 tackles, three fumble recoveries and one interception.
Why it matters now
At 34, Jones is not the player who will change a season on his own. He is the player who lets a defence hold up against the run on early downs while the edge rushers work, and New England needed that answer quickly rather than in November.
One year, modest guarantees, a coach who already knows the fit. The Patriots took the low-risk route.
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