The Los Angeles Rams acquired former first-found pick Dante Fowler from the Jacksonville Jaguars, the team announced today. The Rams will send Jacksonville a 2019 third-round pick as well as a 2020 fifth-round pick. ESPN’s Adam Schefter was the first to report the deal.
Fowler was the third overall pick in the 2015 NFL Draft. After missing the entire 2015 season due to injury, Fowler emerged as a reliable rotation player in Jacksonville over the past three seasons. He proved to be a more than capable pass-rusher. Jacksonville chose to decline his fifth-year option likely due to off-the-field issues as well as a lack of need at the position. Fowler will become a free agent at the end of the season.
Sean McVay stated that finding an edge rusher before the trade deadline was a possibility. Les Snead was able to deliver a solid young player at a low cost. The Rams are expecting to receive two compensatory third-round picks in the 2019 NFL Draft thanks to the major deals Sammy Watkins and Trumaine Johnson received last offseason. They can easily afford to give up one of those picks to shore up a position of need. Fowler will add some much-needed depth behind outside linebackers Samson Ebukam and Matt Longacre. Don’t be surprised if he earns a starting job before the year ends.
Expect Fowler to make his Rams debut this Sunday in arguably the team’s most important game of the regular season against the New Orleans Saints.
Steve Rebeiro is a staff writer and host of the Butting Heads podcast for Rams Talk. He is an alumni of Marquette University. For more of his opinions, follow him on Twitter here.
