Seahawks sign veteran pass rusher Dante Fowler Jr.
Published in Football
SEATTLE — After several weeks of speculation that they would do so, the Seattle Seahawks have agreed to a deal to sign veteran pass rusher Dante Fowler Jr., filling what was perceived to be the last remaining hole on their roster.
The deal is for one year and up to $5 million, as first reported by ESPN and the NFL Network. A source confirmed the deal to The Seattle Times.
Fowler, 31, had a visit with the Seahawks last month and general manager John Schneider said after the NFL draft that it was still an option that Fowler could sign after the Seahawks did not take an edge rusher with any of their eight picks.
Fowler, entering his 12th NFL season, was the third overall pick of the 2015 draft by Jacksonville and has 58.5 sacks in 10 NFL seasons and will help fill out the depth at the edge rushing position after the Seahawks lost Boye Mafe in free agency when he signed a three-year deal worth up to $60 million with the Cincinnati Bengals.
Fowler, who had three sacks last year with Dallas, projects to fill out a four-man edge rusher rotation along with Lawrence, Uchenna Nwosu and Derick Hall.
His addition means the Seahawks have essentially replaced all four of their major free agent losses either with draft picks or through free agency. They drafted running back Jadarian Price in the first round to replace the departed Kenneth Walker III (Chiefs), drafted safety Bud Clark in the second round to help replace Coby Bryant (Bears) and drafted cornerback Julian Neal in the third round to help replace Riq Woolen (Eagles).
The Seahawks have a trio of second-year players that they feel could contribute this year as edge rushers in Connor O’Toole, Jared Ivey and Jalan Gaines. O’Toole and Ivey spent all of last season on the 53-man roster after joining the team as undrafted free agents.
Gaines was in camp last year as an undrafted free agent before being released before the season and rejoining the team in February.
Third-year player Jamie Sheriff also will vie for a roster spot as an edge rusher and backup inside linebacker.
The signing of Fowler fills out the roster at 91 players.
Fowler played at Dallas in the 2022-23 seasons when Seahawks defensive coordinator Aden Durde was the defensive line coach there. He also played there along with Lawrence.
Durde’s presence helped lure Lawrence to Seattle last year and Lawrence responded with 11 tackles-for-a-loss and forcing three fumbles and recovering three as well, two for touchdowns, as the Seahawks won the Super Bowl.
Fowler had three sacks last season with Dallas when he was on a one-year deal worth up to $6 million, playing in all 17 games but had 10.5 with the Commanders in 2024, which was the second-highest total of his career.
Fowler made $6 million on a one-year deal with Dallas last year.
Pro Football Focus rated Fowler as the 107th free agent available and gave this scouting report: “Fowler is coming off the highest-graded season of his 10-year career, earning a 77.6 PFF grade after previously topping out at 72.0 in 2019 with the Rams. His 72.8 pass-rush grade was his best mark since 2022, and he generated 30 pressures — three sacks, seven hits and 20 hurries — on 248 pass-rush snaps. Fowler’s 14.1% pass-rush win rate ranked 30th among the 93 edge defenders with at least 200 pass-rush snaps and marked a career high.”
The Seahawks will be Fowler’s sixth NFL team.
After being drafted by Jacksonville, he missed all of his rookie season when he tore an ACL during rookie minicamp.
He recovered to make 13 sacks in 39 games for the Jags over the next three seasons before being traded to the Rams midway through the 2018 campaign and making 1.5 sacks in three playoff games as L.A. advanced to the Super Bowl.
Fowler had a career-high 11.5 sacks in 2019 for the Rams.
He signed a three-year deal with Atlanta, where he first got to know Durde, who was the Falcons’ outside linebackers coach. Fowler had 7.5 sacks in two seasons and 28 games for Atlanta in 2020-21 before being released and signing with the Cowboys, for whom he had 10 sacks over the 2022-23 seasons.
A native of St. Petersburg, Fla., he attended the University of Florida and had 8.5 sacks in his final season there in 2014.
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