Rams Trade for Jags DE Dante Fowler

Sounds like a monster.

https://www.profootballfocus.com/news/pro-instant-takeaways-from-los-angeles-rams-trade-for-dante-fowler-jr

Instant takeaways from Los Angeles Rams’ trade for Dante Fowler Jr.
By Connor Price • Los Angeles Rams • Dante Fowler Jr. • Oct 30, 2018

The Los Angeles Rams are effectively going all in on 2018 just days after they took down the Green Bay Packers. Los Angeles has traded their 2019 third-round pick as well as their 2020 fifth-round pick for former Jacksonville edge defender Dante Fowler, per Adam Schefter.

Jacksonville maintained one of the league’s best defenses, but LA has no shortage of defensive talent. Fowler will play alongside Aaron Donald, the highest-graded player in the NFL (95.6), who’s also second in the league in quarterback pressures (47). Los Angeles boasts one of the most talented defensive lines in the NFL pairing defensive interiors Donald and Ndamukong Suh, but they lack talent at the edge defender position. The Rams’ edge defender with the highest pass-rush grade is Samson Ebukam (72.3), who ranks 29th in the NFL. Los Angeles receives an immediate upgrade at the position with Fowler, who was the odd man out in Jacksonville.

Fowler has had the best season of his career as a pass-rusher, earning a career-high 82.7 pass-rush grade through Week 8. This mark is good enough for seventh in the league among edge defenders (with no snap restrictions), just one place behind Khalil Mack’s 83.8 pass-rush grade

The writing was on the wall for the Jags’ 2015 first-rounder, as Fowler has only played 165 snaps this season. Yet, he has seized the opportunities he has been given. Fowler’s pressure percentage (14.8) ranks T-12th among edge defenders with 100-plus pass-rush snaps.

Fowler’s 2018 production, however, is an outlier compared to the start of his NFL career. Among the 65 edge defenders with 500 pass-rush snaps in 2016 and 2017 combined, Fowler ranks T-47th in pressure percentage (10.6).

The former first-round pick is in the fourth year of his rookie deal and has high upside in a talent-laden Rams defense. He should make an immediate effect pressuring opposing quarterbacks and further solidify the Rams’ identity as the class of the NFL.

And yes the #Rams expect to re-sign Dante Fowler Jr. While they are in win-now mode, the team is excited about this move. Looks like a career-changing position for Fowler who is considered a 1st-round bust. pic.twitter.com/E3ay7iHpYy

— Downtown Rams (@DowntownRams) October 30, 2018

also he’ll be a pass rushing lb here instead of a defensive end. maybe that makes a difference?

http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/25128509/rams-acquire-jags-de-dante-fowler-draft-picks

Rams acquire Jags DE Dante Fowler for draft picks

The Los Angeles Rams acquired defensive end Dante Fowler Jr. from the Jacksonville Jaguars on Tuesday for a third-round draft pick in 2019 and a fifth-round selection in 2020.

He will become an unrestricted free agent after this season.

Fowler joins a loaded Rams defensive line rotation that already includes Aaron Donald, who leads the NFL with 10 sacks, Ndamukong Suh and Michael Brockers. All four players are former first-round picks. Fowler was taken with the third overall pick in the 2015 draft, Donald was picked 13th in 2014, Suh second in 2010 and Brockers 14th in 2012.

Fowler tweeted about the trade:

The 24-year-old Fowler has eight tackles and two sacks in seven games with the Jaguars (3-5) this season and has 14 sacks and 22 quarterback hits in 39 career games.

Fowler has had a long list of off-the-field issues. In 2016, he was captured on video apparently refereeing a fight between his girlfriend and the mother of his child. A few weeks later, he was arrested and charged with misdemeanor counts of assault against a police officer and resisting arrest without violence; the charges were later dropped. He has been involved in several practice fights and served a one-week suspension in training camp for his latest practice fight, which involved defensive end Yannick Ngakoue. He also was suspended for the season opener as a result of pleading no contest to charges of battery, criminal mischief, and petit theft stemming from a July 2017 arrest in his hometown of St. Petersburg, Florida. He also has been issued more than 10 traffic citations in a two-year period.

In May, the Jaguars declined to pick up Fowler’s fifth-year option. Fowler hasn’t had any off-the-field issues since his 2017 arrest and said in August that he knew that his long-term NFL future — and a potential big payday — depended equally on his playing well and avoiding off-the-field problems.

Fowler missed his rookie season with a torn ACL and had 8.0 sacks last season. He also had two in the Jaguars’ AFC Championship Game loss to New England in January.

The Rams have been in search of an edge rusher since trading outside linebacker Robert Quinn to the Miami Dolphins in the offseason and letting outside linebacker Connor Barwin depart in free agency.

Second-year pro Samson Ebukam has maintained a presence on the edge through eight games, but the role opposite Ebukam has been in flux.

The Rams moved former first-round pick Dominique Easley from the interior of the line to the edge before the season. But Easley was placed on injured reserve after undergoing the fourth knee procedure of his career after a Week 3 win over the Los Angeles Chargers.

Matt Longacre, who underwent season-ending back surgery last season, has started the past five games in Easley’s absence. Longacre has nine tackles but has not recorded a sack.

The Rams pursued several edge players in the draft this year, including John Franklin-Myers, Ogbonnia Okoronkwo and Trevon Young.

Young, a sixth-round pick from Louisville, has seen time in the rotation; however, he was inactive against the Green Bay Packers because of a back injury. Franklin-Myers has been used in specific packages, and Okoronkwo, a fifth-round pick from Oklahoma, was placed on the physically unable to perform list after he underwent offseason foot surgery. The Rams must decide to activate Okoronkwo or place him on injured reserve by the start of Week 10.

Also Tuesday, the Rams waived offensive guard Jamon Brown. Brown was the lone veteran reserve on the offensive line. The only backups currently available are rookie Joseph Noteboom and rookie Brian Allen.

ESPN’s Michael DiRocco and Lindsey Thiry contributed to this report.

Seems like a good move to me. They didn’t give up nothing. The Rams have made hay with 3rd rounders. But Fowler should be an upgrade over what they have.

Little surprised that they cut Jamon Brown for him. There is a story behind that. And it isn’t just that Blythe amazed everybody and played excellent. Brown was a starter, and now he’s gone.

I’m guessing that Brown hasn’t shown a work ethic since coming back from suspension, or run attitude, or something. In addition to perhaps owing more to performance enhancers than we might think. I dunno. A bit of a surprise.

alyoshamucci

I can’t say what has transpired since then, but being derailed like that is a serious thing … then a coaching change?

yeah. that’s what makes me think this could be a good thing. his rookie year was wiped out by an acl. his sophomore year he was coming off an injury and a year out of football. his third year he broke out somewhat with 8 sacks.

now this year he hasn’t been very productive. but it’s his last year. he’s playing out of position. i mean he’s a 255 pound 4-3 defensive end in that system. doesn’t seem like a fit. and the jags don’t seem interested in re-signing him. so there’s no incentive to try and fit him into the defense.

maybe as a stand-up rusher who can be moved around. maybe that’ll work. i don’t think he’s a starter. more of a situation pass rusher to start out with. but he’ll get plenty of reps here.

Albert Breer@AlbertBreer
The 3rd-round pick the Rams sent to the Jags was designed to be the middle of three 3rd-rounders. The condition on the trade: it’s either the team’s natural 3 or highest comp 3. And LA expects to get comp 3s for Trumaine Johnson and Sammy Watkins.

Dan Hatman@Dan_Hatman
The beauty of their offseason build was their additions came from trades/cap cuts which allows for them to still get comps for their losses, which they are clearly using to keep working to win this season.

==

Mike Clay
ESPN Writer

New Rams edge rusher Dante Fowler Jr. is a big upgrade over the likes of Samson Ebukam, Matt Longacre and John Franklin-Myers. Fowler had lined up exclusively at DE in Jacksonville’s 4-3 this season, but could align more at OLB in Wade Phillips’ 3-4. Either way, his job will be to rush the passer. Fowler had only played 38 percent of the Jaguars’ defensive snaps, when active, this season, so it will be interesting to see how he fares with more work. Meanwhile, 2018 first-round pick Taven Bryan will step into a larger role on the edge with Fowler out of the mix in Jacksonville.

==

Bill Barnwell
ESPN Staff Writer

2015 third overall pick Dante Fowler never panned out for the Jaguars, as a torn ACL, off-field issues, and the emergence of Yannick Ngakoue kept the Florida product from reaching pre-draft expectations. Fowler did have eight sacks in 2017, but he has just two sacks with one quarterback knockdown this year. The Jaguars turned down Fowler’s fifth-year option before the year and now send him to the Rams for third- and fifth-round picks, netting Los Angeles badly-needed help on the edge. A hot stretch run from Fowler could net the Rams a compensatory pick in 2020, but this is a lot to pay for a half-season of a player who has been inconsistent as a pro.

zn wrote:

Is this a rental?

Cause 2nd contracts for both pass-rushing 3/4 OLBs and 3/4 DEs are around 17 M. Though Fowler could be less for a lot of reasons, but not a whole lot less.

If he shows something in the rest of 2018 that could be what he’s seen as being worth in 2019.

So do they pay that? Or say good bye and add a guy in the draft or free agency this off-season? Or both?

…

Probably a Rental, but who knows? IF he is really expensive, they get a 3rd round comp pick back. Maybe they keep him on a prove it contract for next year? It is a Gamble.

Agamemnon wrote:

zn wrote:

Is this a rental?

Cause 2nd contracts for both pass-rushing 3/4 OLBs and 3/4 DEs are around 17 M. Though Fowler could be less for a lot of reasons, but not a whole lot less.

If he shows something in the rest of 2018 that could be what he’s seen as being worth in 2019.

So do they pay that? Or say good bye and add a guy in the draft or free agency this off-season? Or both?

…

Probably a Rental, but who knows? IF he is really expensive, they get a 3rd round comp pick back. Maybe they keep him on a prove it contract for next year? It is a Gamble.

Yesterday some reporter, (Klein, Curly, Vinnie?) tweeted that the Rams really like him and are interested in signing him long-term but I can’t find it now.

And yes the #Rams expect to re-sign Dante Fowler Jr. While they are in win-now mode, the team is excited about this move. Looks like a career-changing position for Fowler who is considered a 1st-round bust. pic.twitter.com/E3ay7iHpYy

— Downtown Rams (@DowntownRams) October 30, 2018

Well, who knows? Sometimes these things work out. Sometimes they don’t.

The Watkins deal kind of failed in the way things worked out. It wasn’t a miserable failure but they lost him and he didn’t have a great impact anyway.

The Cooks deal has been fantastic. Worth the pick.

The Peters deal–not so much so far.

The Fowler deal? We will see.

They certainly needed to upgrade their edge rush so it is worth the gamble. Hopefully he can have an impact the rest of the year.