Dante Folwer Jr. should feel excited about first training camp with Rams

Dante Fowler Jr. is set to participate in his first training camp with the Los Angeles Rams after coming on board in the middle of last season.

Football fans learned early on last offseason how the Los Angeles Rams took the mindset of being in a win-now mode when they were willing to bring on any player possible that seemed capable of putting them in better position to make a run at the Super Bowl.

Even though Dante Fowler Jr. wasn’t technically acquired until right before the trade deadline, this move was still part of the plan surrounding the Rams in regards to believing the linebacker could help pull off that Super Bowl run.

Originally, there were some mixed reactions surrounding the trade since many felt right away that Los Angeles was wasting their time since Fowler had struggled to live up to the hype of being a former first-round pick with the Jacksonville Jaguars.

But also, when seeing how all the Rams had to give up as part of the trade with the Jaguars was a future third and fifth-round pick, Fowler seemed well worth the risk since Los Angeles seemed like they had nothing to lose.

Turns out, the risk turned out to be quite the reward for Los Angeles after watching Fowler start six of eight games during the regular season for the Rams in 2018 that resulted in two sacks and 21 combined tackles.

Clearly, the Rams were satisfied with the decision to acquire Fowler since his impact during the second half of the 2018 season along with the playoffs was good enough to earn him a hefty one-year, $12 million deal this offseason.

What would be even more exciting is if Fowler played well enough in 2019 where the Rams felt confident enough in rewarding him with a long-term extension to make sure he sticks around, but for now the focus seems to be taking things one step at a time.

Since Fowler only came on board in the middle of last season, this year’s training camp will be the linebacker’s first with the Rams, and fans should be excited to give the Florida product a follow over the next few weeks.

Plenty of players will be key factors for Los Angeles heading into the 2019 season, as they look to build off last year’s success in which they came up short in the Super Bowl, and there’s no question that Fowler is part of that list.

Things may not have worked out for the best with Fowler in Jacksonville, but sometimes fresh starts on new teams are just what certain players need to get their career on the right track, which seems to be the case so far for the linebacker in Los Angeles.