Fowler excited about Rams future after debut: ‘I feel great’...

Dante Fowler Jr. excited about future with Rams after debut: 'I feel great'

Cameron DaSilva

[theramswire.usatoday.com]

Even though he didn’t get the start, Dante Fowler Jr. was on the field plenty in his debut with the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday. He played the second-most snaps of any edge rusher, trotting out there for 62 percent of the defensive plays.

Although he didn’t have a sack, Fowler did have one tackle for loss and batted down a pass. Primarily being a pass rusher, he wasn’t asked to play the run very much, but his stuff on Alvin Kamara in the third quarter was a great play by the former Jaguar.


After the game, he talked about his first game with the Rams, even though it was a disappointing loss at the Superdome.

“Yeah, I feel great. Just being on the edge, holding it down with the other Sam linebackers. I feel like it’s going to be really good in the future,” Fowler said in the locker room. “It’s just the first game, hats off to the Saints. They’ve got a great coach, a great offensive coach, great head coach. I’m looking forward to playing those guys again.”


Matt Longacre, who was evaluated for a concussion at one point in the game, got the start over Fowler at outside linebacker. Fowler wound up playing more than Longacre, though, and generated some pressure from that EDGE position.

Coming off the bench is something Fowler is used to, doing so in every game for the Jaguars this season. There’s a good chance he’ll pass Longacre on the depth chart and eventually become a starter for the Rams, but he’s going to contribute no matter his role.

“Coming off the bench, sometimes it takes some time for you to get rolling. Going against 72 (Terron Armstead), pretty good offensive tackle, I feel like I got him in some one-on-ones,” Fowler added. “He did a really good job in the play-action pass and stuff like that. I feel like in the first half, they had their script, they had something that they already knew they were going to do, which is pretty hard, but they’re a great team, too – hats off to them.”

It remains to be seen how Wade Phillips will deploy Fowler moving forward, but his athleticism and pass-rushing ability was evident on Sunday in limited action. He was more impactful than Longacre has been at any point this season, so hopefully he’ll continue to get better and carve out a larger role as a 3-4 outside linebacker.