Analysis: Dante Fowler Jr. to sign 3-year deal with Falcons
The Atlanta Falcons and free agent pass rusher Dante Fowler Jr. reportedly agreed to a three-year contract worth up to $48 million last week. The guaranteed amount has yet to be announced, as the Falcons have yet to make the move official. It may be a while before the move is announced, due to COVID-19 concerns delaying a potential physical.
The Los Angeles Rams were reportedly trying to keep Fowler Jr. but the former No. 3 overall pick chose Atlanta. The 2018 NFC Champion would have ranked as the best overall edge defender on the Falcons in 2019 according to PFF, posting an overall grade of 72.1, ranking 35th among edge players for the season. The guy he is effectively replacing, Vic Beasley, ranked 88th on the edge with a grade of 58.9.
Fowler Jr. and Grady Jarrett will look to become a force up front for the Falcons, who ranked near the bottom in every pass rush category in 2019 as a group. And that was with Jarrett posting another elite, Pro Bowl season in the middle. The speed of Fowler Jr. combined with Jarrett's power should generate more of a rush, and bring the group closer to the middle of the pack in terms of getting to the quarterback. It's hard to be certain Fowler Jr. can be enough to take the Falcons from the bottom of the league to the top by himself in this area, but he's a big piece. Atlanta will need to find some sort of consistency opposite the newly acquired rusher, whether it's Takkarist McKinley or a rotation of multiple guys.
Fowler Jr. racked up 11.5 sacks and 16 tackles for loss for the Rams in 2019, both easily a career high. He also had 35 pressures, including 19 hurries and 16 QB hits. He was the type of disruptive player Atlanta has desperately lacked in the past two seasons, since Beasley's more effective early years. Fowler Jr. has 3.5 sacks and six QB hits in six career playoff games, including three starts in the 2018 Los Angeles postseason run to Super Bowl 53, which was obviously played at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.
Thomas Dimitroff & Co. will almost assuredly do more to address the pass rush at some point in the 2020 NFL Draft, and may find a way to bring back Adrian Clayborn as well, but Fowler Jr. is undoubtedly the move that needs to provide an immediate punch to the pass rush in 2020. This move could potentially push the club the pick a cornerback at No. 16, but it's still in the realm of possibility that they go with a defensive lineman depending on who's all left on the board. The Falcons could even consider trading back in an effort to further address multiple areas of the defense.
