Next two months could determine Dante Fowler’s future with Rams

Dante Fowler has been heating up for the Los Angeles Rams in recent weeks to make a strong case for a future deal with the deal.

Back in the offseason, the Los Angeles Rams signed Dante Fowler Jr. to a hefty one-year deal with the hope that he would play well enough in 2019 to potentially earn a long-term contract down the road.

By starting the year off with a hot note after recording two sacks in a Week 1 win over the Carolina Panthers, Fowler seemed to be on his way towards a monster season to help make the decision for the Rams easy.

However, Fowler would fail to record a single sack over the next five games for Los Angeles after that impressive start to 2019.

And while it’s been great to see Fowler step up the way he has over the the previous two games, the former first-round pick still has a long way to go in regards to proving he’s worthy of a hefty new deal from the Rams.

One week after setting a career high with three sacks against the Atlanta Falcons, Fowler picked up right where he left off last weekend in London by sacking Andy Dalton 1.5 times, bringing his total to 4.5 over the last two games heading into the bye week.

But as impressive as these numbers have been for Fowler, some critics will point out they came against teams in the Falcons and Cincinnati Bengals with a combined one win.

In other words, the Rams are smart enough to realize the real tests for Fowler will come during these final two months to see if the linebacker can post similar results against legitimate contenders instead of teams in the running for the top overall pick.

Whether it happens to be the team’s first game after the bye against the Pittsburgh Steelers or the next two meetings with the Seattle Seahawks and San Francisco 49ers, Fowler will have plenty of opportunities to prove himself for the Rams.

If Fowler can find ways to produce these kinds of numbers against legitimate contenders, it will certainly help the Rams make what would seem like an easy decision to reward him with a new deal to keep the linebacker around for the long run.

Most importantly, if this ends up being the case for Fowler, it will also put Los Angeles in better position to punch their ticket to the playoffs for a third season in a row, although they still have plenty to overcome over these next two months.