Ex-Rams DE Dante Fowler Reportedly Agrees to 3-Year, $48M Contract with Falcons

The Atlanta Falcons are reportedly adding a major piece to their pass rush by signing Dante Fowler Jr., according to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network:

ESPN.com's Vaughn McClure reported Fowler's deal is worth $48 million.

Atlanta will be Fowler's third career team after the Jacksonville Jaguars selected him with the No. 3 overall pick of the 2015 NFL draft out of the University of Florida. While he tore his ACL and missed his rookie season, he flashed his immense potential by 2017 with eight sacks while helping lead a stifling defense to the AFC Championship Game.

It appeared he would be a defensive anchor for the Jaguars for years to come, but that quickly changed.

He was suspended one game in 2018 and tallied a mere nine tackles and two sacks in his first seven games of the year as Jacksonville failed to live up to expectations after narrowly missing the Super Bowl the prior season.

Jacksonville traded him to the Los Angeles Rams that October. While he helped the Rams reach the Super Bowl, he finished with just two sacks in eight regular-season games for the NFC West squad.

To Fowler's credit, he started turning the corner in that Super Bowl run with 1.5 sacks in three games. He then bet on himself with a one-year deal in Los Angeles for 2019 and posted his best individual season with 58 tackles, 11.5 sacks, two forced fumbles and a fumble recovery.

It was perfectly timed heading into free agency, although he suggested in December he wanted to stay with the Rams and continue playing alongside Aaron Donald, Jalen Ramsey and Cory Littleton, per Gary Klein of the Los Angeles Times:

"I would love to stay here and see if something worked out. I know they have their hands full, so we'll just see how it works out.

"It would be nice to stay with the best player in the league, A.D., and have Jalen and me and Cory—that would be really cool. But there's so many good players on this team, and I know how the business goes."

The business side of the game sent Fowler to Atlanta, which is welcome news for his new squad. The Falcons parted ways with free agent Vic Beasley Jr., who signed with the Tennessee Titans, and Fowler is arguably an upgrade over Beasley.

The Florida product is 25 years old and theoretically just hitting his prime after a dominant showing last season. Fowler is also postseason-tested from his time on the Jaguars and Rams and will look to pick up where he left off in 2019.

If he does, he could add to that playoff experience in 2020.