Dante Fowler is hitting the open market a little earlier than expected. The Atlanta Falcons announced on Wednesday that they have released the veteran pass rusher after a two-season stretch with the club.
Fowler originally signed a three-year deal with the team back in March of 2020, but later reworked his contract to reduce his salary for the 2021 season with a chance to earn more in incentives and add a void year. That void year was set to kick in at the start of the new league year in 2022, thus making the 27-year-old an unrestricted free agent in about a month. Because he has been released, Fowler now has a head start to find a new NFL home before the floodgates of free agency open up.
Fowler originally came into the league as the No. 3 overall pick by the Jaguars in 2015. He spent four seasons in Jacksonville before being traded to the Los Angeles Rams amid the 2018 season. He’d play in L.A. for the rest of that season and then the entire 2019 campaign. That final season with the Rams proved to be the best of Fowler’s career as he totaled 11.5 sacks to go along with 58 tackles (16 for a loss) and 16 quarterback hits.
With Atlanta, Fowler wasn’t as big of a presence as he was working alongside Aaron Donald and the rest of the stars in the Rams front seven. In his two-season run with the Falcons, he totaled 7.5 sacks and 59 tackles in 28 games played.
