Dante Fowler’s monster day at joint practice shows hype is real for 2019

Dante Fowler put together a stellar performance for the Los Angeles Rams on Thursday during the team’s second day of joint practices with the Oakland Raiders.

Instead of signing Dante Fowler to a long-term deal this offseason, the Los Angeles Rams took the safe approach by convincing the linebacker to return on a hefty one-year, $12 million deal.

With Fowler already indicating he would love nothing more than to be around for the long run with the Rams, this deal seems like the perfect motivation factor to make sure the former first-round pick comes through with a solid 2019 campaign.

Since Los Angeles hasn’t even participated in their first preseason game, Fowler obviously still has a long way to go when it comes to proving to the Rams that he deserves to be around for the long run.

But on a positive note, Fowler has found numerous ways to impress Los Angeles over the last couple of months, with the latest taking place on Thursday during the second day of joint practices with the Oakland Raiders.

ESPN’s Lindsey Thiry summed it up best by saying Fowler put together a “standout day” for the Rams during Thursday’s practice, recording at least four sacks while constantly applying all sorts of pressure on the Raiders.

Clearly, one day of practice isn’t going to determine what kind of year Fowler is going to have for Los Angeles in 2019, but it’s stuff like this that makes Rams fans extra excited over what this season has in store.

Unlike last year, Fowler should benefit from having an entire offseason to work with the Rams instead of having to worry about playing catch up since he didn’t come on board until right before the deadline.

Seeing how previous “prove it” deals have worked out for other players across the NFL, Los Angeles has every reason in the world to believe Fowler will eventually be around for the long run by showing in 2019 he does in fact belong on this defense.

However, Los Angeles realizes the importance of not jumping too far ahead instead of taking the one day at a time approach, meaning the main focus at the moment will be on the upcoming preseason games.

Assuming Fowler continues to play at a high level during the games he sees action in, once September arrives, the Rams should be in solid shape on defense with their beloved linebacker.