After spending a year with the Washington Commanders, Dante Fowler returns to the Dallas Cowboys, and honestly, I think he may be not only the most underrated player on the defense, but possibly the entire team.
During his first tenure with Dallas, Fowler had 10 sacks in two seasons.
He was also sharing snaps with DeMarcus Lawrence, Chauncey Golston, and Dorance Armstrong — all of whom are gone now. Fowler proved he could do more with added snaps, as he had 10.5 sacks for Washington last year.
More In The Tank?
Outside of trading for George Pickens and resigning Osa, bringing back Fowler was the best move the front office did this offseason.
Fowler, 30, had just a combined 17.5 sacks in the previous four seasons, two with the Atlanta Falcons and two with the Dallas before joining the Commanders.
He credited outside linebackers coach Ryan Kerrigan, the organization’s all-time sack leader, with helping him develop more as an edge rusher.
DeMarcus Lawerence left to head to the Seattle Seahawks, so Fowler now becomes the team’s second-best pass rusher behind Micah Parsons.
This defense will need him under a new defensive coordinator again.
Matt Eberflus has a lot to prove this year after he was fired as head coach of the Chicago Bears. Fortunately for Dallas, he is much better suited as a defensive coordinator than he is as a head coach.
In his first year as the Colts’ coordinator in 2018, Indianapolis went from No. 30 in points and yards allowed to No. 10 and 11, respectively. The run defense went from 26th to eighth, and the Colts did not allow a 100-yard rusher.
I would like to see what Flus will do with these guys, but the Cowboys secondary is still a problem for this defense, so they are going to need Fowler and Micah to be great this year.
Parsons will end the season with 15 sacks plus again, but they will need Fowler to hit double digits if they want to be a great defense.
Sam Williams, the second-round pick in 2022, returns from a torn ACL that cost him the entire 2024 campaign. Marshawn Kneeland was the team’s second-round selection last year, but could be in danger of being buried on the depth chart if Fowler balls out.
We will see how the summer goes, but keep an eye on the defense and how they are going to make things work. Wish their defensive tackles were a little bit better, though.
I always thought Fowler was better than what people made him out to be!! I thought he was always a really good pass rusher!! And I’m glad we resigned him!! I just wish we signed him to a longer contract!! And as far as Kneeland goes, I think he’ll play a large amount of snaps!! He’s not the best as a pass rusher right now, but he’s really good at stopping the run, so I think he’ll play a lot just to help stop the run!! In my opinion, he’s just a younger DeMarcus Lawrence!! He’ll get better the more he plays, but for now, he should get playing time on obvious run downs!!
Now as far as the secondary goes, I don’t think your giving our CBs enough credit!! You say our secondary is still a problem, but I don’t think we have a problem there!! We have plenty of talent at that position!! We have Bland obviously, hopefully he’ll get back to his pre injury self, he’s a pro bowler if he plays like he did in 2023!! Then we have Kaiir Elam, and I know a lot of people don’t think he’s any good, but I think he’s being overlooked!! I think he’s a lot better than people think, and I believe he’ll prove it this year with us!! And then we have Israel Mukuamu, he can play anywhere in the secondary, and he’s a shut down corner when he plays in the slot!! And he’s already proven that when he shut down Chris Godwin in the playoffs!! That’s our 3 starters for this year if I had to choose!! And then we have our 3rd round pick Revel, who was supposed to be a 1st round pick if it wasn’t for the injury he had!! And he should be ready to go by the start of the season, if not sooner, and if I’m right, he can be a starter on the outside if he needs to be!! So if one of the other outside corners get hurt, or don’t play good in certain games, he can come in and take over!! And then we can Carson, and he showed he can play before he got injured too,, and he should be ready by the start of the season too!! And then there’s Trevon Diggs!! He’s our number 1 corner, and we all know how good he can be!! And I know he’s recovering from surgery, and a lot of people think he’ll miss the whole season, but from what I’ve been hearing, he’ll be back this season!! He said he’s trying to get back for the first game of the season, but I don’t think that’ll happen, but he’s still gonna be back to play this year, I’m sure of that!! So that’s 6 starters right there, and we only need 3 at a time to start on defense!! And every one of them I just named off are good enough to start for any team in the NFL!! And all of them are on our team!! And that’s not including other players we have like Kemon Hall, and Josh Butler who have been good players too!! So I really don’t understand why people think our secondary is bad!! We have a stacked CB room!! And it’s only gonna get better when the injured corners get back from their injuries!! So I think that’s one of our better units!! If anything, the problem on our defense is our LBs!! We don’t really have any good LBs!! Maybe Marist Liufau …. Overshown is really good, but we can’t say if he’ll be back this year!! Other than them 2, we don’t have anybody else!! We have Sanborn who mite be good, but there’s no guarantee in that!! We have Kenneth Murray, who a lot of people are wanting to call a draft bust!! Damone Clark hasn’t been good since his rookie season!! And Shemar James is a 5th round rookie that mite not even be good enough to play anything but special teams!! So to me, I think LB is a problem, not the secondary!! I think we have a bigger problem with the LBs than we do at the 1 tech position!! If not, they’re pretty close!! But either way, we don’t have a problem with the secondary!! We’re fine there!!
a Dallas Cowboys fan, since the 70’s I don’t consider Dante Fowler that good of a defensive player unless their is another defensive player or players better than Dante Fowler that’s on the same defense
One of my dad’s best friends was Bob Hayes. While in prison, I’d call home and Bob would be over at my mom’s office, and he’d say ” Rodney, “get your butt out of there.!”
I would do a recap, the announcer Frank Gleiber, and Meredith and Mr. Hayes connecting up for “the bomb.” That thrilled him. He thrilled the whole league.
My parents, Warren and Virginia Weatherly, knew a lot.of Cowboys and met at a Dallas Cowboy football party. Go Cowboys.