https://www.ocregister.com/2019/06/...elieves-one-year-prove-it-deal-is-worth-risk/
Rams’ Dante Fowler believes one-year, prove-it deal is worth risk
By Ryan Kartje
THOUSAND OAKS — Dante Fowler was all set to cash in. The former No. 3 overall pick had shown enough over 11 games with the Rams to warrant considerable interest on the open market. Rams general manager Les Snead had gone as far as declaring him the team’s “biggest priority” this offseason. But for a young pass rusher, oozing with unrealized potential, unrestricted free agency seemed too tempting to pass up.
Fowler understood the payday that awaited in free agency. He knew some team would offer him long-term security.
But in a somewhat stunning turn, Fowler chose not to test the market at all. Instead, three days before free agency opened, the 24-year-old edge rusher re-signed with the Rams on a one-year deal worth up to $14 million ($12 million guaranteed).
His contract was soon dwarfed by other edge rushers on the market – the similarly unproven Za’Darius Smith signed a four-year, $66 million deal with the Packers – but to Fowler, re-signing with the Rams proved to be about more than just money.
“When I got here, it was like all of my wishes had been granted,” Fowler said on Monday, during the third week of the Rams’ organized team activities. “This is a great place.”
After four seasons in Jacksonville, where Fowler believes he never received a fair shot, it took him just a few weeks to fall in love with Los Angeles. Right away, he said, the locker room embraced him. Wade Phillips’ scheme suited him. He felt at home. “I felt like I could be me again,” Fowler said in February.
“I really wasn’t feeling myself until I got here,” Fowler reiterated this week. “The coaches put me in a great position. Just let me be me, let me be the Dante Fowler that got me here.”
Now, with a one-year, prove-it deal in hand, Fowler understands he’ll have to produce a season unlike any of his previous three, in which he’s tallied a combined total of 16 sacks. If Fowler does make that leap – and the Rams offer him a longer, more lucrative extension next offseason – he’s made it pretty clear he has every intention of staying in L.A. for the foreseeable future.
“Damn right I will be signing that paper,” he said, with a laugh.
To earn that paper, though, Fowler needs to pick up where he left off at the end of last season. After a slow start following his October trade, his late surge helped elevate the Rams’ defense to another level for the playoffs. In overtime of the NFC championship game, Fowler pressured Saints quarterback Drew Brees into throwing an interception that led to a conference championship-clinching field goal.
With a full offseason spent honing his role on the Rams’ defense, Fowler says, he “can only imagine” how much further along he’ll be when this season starts.
“What he was able to do coming in in the middle of the year, being able to contribute the way that he did, it really says a lot about how quickly he was able to pick things up,” Rams coach Sean McVay said. “But now I think you can get a little more intricate with some of the details, some of the nuances, really where you’re starting the right way from a foundational teaching standpoint, and that’s only going to help Dante play faster, play more decisive.”
Then, after this season, the Rams will have another decision to make. It probably won’t be a simple one. With a parade of pricey, long-term deals looming – chief among them, a mega-extension for quarterback Jared Goff – cutting Fowler loose could be one of the difficult cap decisions the Rams are forced to make next offseason.
That’s the risk Fowler knowingly inherited, in order to have at least one more season in Los Angeles. It’s up to him now to prove that his prove-it deal was a risk worth taking.
“I’m going to go out there and bust my tail,” Fowler said, “try to be the best player I can be, on and off the field, so I can figure out a way to stay in L.A.”
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