Shockingly favorable Dre’Mont Jones trade deadline conditions force Titans fans to do something they absolutely hate

The Tennessee Titans made a deal with the Baltimore Ravens on Monday night before the trade deadline to send EDGE Dre’Mont Jones to Baltimore for a conditional 5th round pick. We knew the 5th could become a 4th if certain conditions were met, but it wasn’t until Tuesday that we learned what they were. And it turns out, they’re far more favorable for the Titans than anybody would have guessed.

Typically, the conditions on a trade are an intentionally high bar set by the team paying for the player. They only want to send a better package if and only if a best-case scenario comes to fruition. But in this trade, Titans GM Mike Borgonzi managed to make the conditions a simple insurance policy for the Ravens: all Jones has to do is get two more sacks and reach the playoffs.

Titans fans have to root for the Ravens to reach the playoffs

That’s it! This is a shocking piece of business for Borgonzi, who not only got a full pick out of the one year rental pass rusher, but he’s all-but ensured it will be a fourth round pick. Here’s what you need to know about this going forward: first, it’ll be really shocking if Jones doesn’t record two more sack this year. He’s collected 4.5 sacks in the past month alone, heating up in a big way headed into November and December. He’s instantly the leading pressure-getter on the Ravens today with 19, so there won’t be an issue with him getting enough opportunities either. All he needs is one sack a month to close out the year. Failing to reach that bar would be a real fall-off for the talented rusher.

Second, while it may sound lofty to expect the Ravens to claw their way back from a 5-5 start all the way to the playoffs, you may be surprised to find they’re already the favorites to win the AFC North again. And sports books have them listed at implied 63% odds to reach the postseason now that they’ve won two in a row and have Lamar Jackson back healthy.

Here’s who the Ravens play the rest of the season. You be the judge of how hard a path they have…

So get ready to root for your favorite AFC South opponent, Tennessee fans! Get those purple and black pom pom’s out of storage and start rooting on the Derrick Henry Ravens each Sunday.

Finally, not to be a buzzkill, but the jump that this conditional pick stands to be isn’t actually all that dramatic. The 5th rounder that the Titans currently have from Baltimore is the Jets’ original pick, which stands to almost certainly be a top-10 selection (especially after their insane fire sale deadline day, which the Titans might soon be massive winners of… more on that here). If the conditions are met to turn it into a 4th round pick, they’ll get the Ravens’ pick. So even if the Ravens are the first team bounced from the playoffs, and the Jets finish with the 10th pick in each round, we’re talking about a maximum jump of 27 picks (148th overall to 121st overall).