Dante Fowler Jr. promises to come back stronger than ever

Jacksonville Jaguars rookie Dante Fowler Jr. vowed to come back from a torn ACL stronger than ever in a press conference today.

Jacksonville Jaguars rookie defensive end Dante Fowler Jr., who suffered a torn ACL yesterday during the team’s first day of rookie minicamp, isn’t letting his injury get him down. In a press conference today, Fowler remained positive and determined to bounce back.

“That’s the game of football,” Fowler said. “You’re out there laying your life on the line every play. You don’t know what’s going to happen. And this is just one of those unfortunate things. But I’m going to be able to bounce back.”

“If I didn’t get hurt yesterday, we were going to be talking about probably how good I was in practice because I was feeling good.”

Fowler suffered the injury yesterday during 11-on-11 drills while lined up against offensive lineman Watts Danzler. Fowler went down grabbing his left knee and stayed down for several minutes before eventually leaving the field on a training cart. It doesn’t look like contact was the cause of the injury, and given Fowler’s sterling injury history, it might have just been a freak play. Fowler was able to walk on his leg, albeit very gingerly, and but some weight on the injury, so the initial hope was that it wouldn’t be anything too serious. The team got the unfortunate diagnosis last night.

Jaguars coach Gus Bradley mirrored Fowler’s optimism and noted that Fowler’s spirit is “hard to be matched”.

“Dante said through this adversity I’m going to come back bigger, stronger and use this opportunity for my advantage,” Bradley noted. “What a great lesson for all the guys in the room.”

Knee injuries suck, and it’s terrible that Fowler’s promising rookie season will be cut short before it even gets started, but his attitude is encouraging, and he seems to recognize that setbacks are unavoidable and a part of the game. Fowler has already been contacted by St. Louis Rams running back Todd Gurley, who suffered a similar injury, and Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin, and it’s likely that Fowler will see an even bigger outreach of support in the coming days.

When Fowler returns, he’s likely to provide an immediate boost to the Jaguar’s pass rush. The 6’3″, 261 lb. defensive end is a great fit for Bradley’s defense, and if his productivity in college is any indication, he should be a menace from day one.

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