Through his first couple of years in the league, Jacksonville Jaguars defensive end Dante Fowler Jr. has experienced his fair share of issues off the field.
The latest being pleading no contest to a battery charge stemming from an incident earlier this year where he was accused of beating down a man along with stepping on his glass and throwing his groceries into a lake. All of this has led to the NFL stepping in to take action by suspending him for Week 1 of the 2018 season, according to Mike Kaye of First Coast News.
Fowler is heading into a critical 2018 campaign as it marks the final year of his four-year rookie deal as the team has already decided to decline the $14.2 million fifth-year option.
He is coming off a breakout campaign where he recorded a career-best 8.0 sacks with a pair of forced fumbles and fumble recoveries that helped him become a major factor along their daunting defensive front.
However, the Jaguars have taken the approach to see if his uptick in production isn't a one-year thing as the team wants to see if he can replicate or build off the performance this past season. He will now have one less game to showcase that in what could be a make or break year for his tenure with Jacksonville.
What has also been a factor in this equation has been his persistent struggles to stay out trouble off the field. Beyond that, he was also involved in another arrest of where he charged with assault against a police offer and resisting without violence. He was seen in a video where he was in the middle of a possible fight between his girlfriend and mother of his child early last year that he had publicly apologized for the incident.
All of this just brings more scrutiny and pressure on him to prove that he can be a long-term piece to the puzzle for the Jaguars.