The NFL can be cruel, and it certainly was yesterday for Dante Fowler and the Jacksonville Jaguars. On draft day they opted to try to upgrade an annually poor pass rush -- one that was starting to come around -- and on the first day of rookie minicamp, those efforts were scuttled.
No. 3 overall pick Dante Fowler tore his ACL yesterday and is gone for the season. Fowler had 8.5 sacks at Florida last year and was the team's choice to bring some teeth to Jacksonville's sack numbers.
The Jaguars were headed in the right direction, too, after finishing last in the league in sacks in both 2012 and 2013. Last year they had a better than average 45 sacks, and Fowler was to be the piece to get them even higher in production.
Now, they'll need to have somebody else step up this season.
The table below shows sacks over the last five seasons. Over that time span, only two teams have had fewer sacks than the Jaguars. They're trending up, at least, but will have a hard time continuing that without Fowler to pump up their pass rush.
TEAM SACKS, 2010-2014 | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Team | 10 Sk | 11 Sk | 12 Sk | 13 Sk | 14 Sk | Total |
St. Louis | 43 | 39 | 52 | 53 | 40 | 227 |
Green Bay | 47 | 29 | 47 | 44 | 41 | 208 |
NY Giants | 46 | 48 | 33 | 34 | 47 | 208 |
Minnesota | 31 | 50 | 44 | 41 | 41 | 207 |
Philadelphia | 39 | 50 | 30 | 37 | 49 | 205 |
Buffalo | 27 | 29 | 36 | 57 | 54 | 203 |
Miami | 39 | 41 | 42 | 42 | 39 | 203 |
Baltimore | 27 | 48 | 37 | 40 | 49 | 201 |
Carolina | 31 | 31 | 39 | 60 | 40 | 201 |
New England | 36 | 40 | 37 | 48 | 40 | 201 |
Denver | 23 | 41 | 52 | 41 | 41 | 198 |
Arizona | 33 | 42 | 38 | 47 | 35 | 195 |
Detroit | 44 | 41 | 34 | 33 | 42 | 194 |
NY Jets | 40 | 35 | 30 | 41 | 45 | 191 |
San Francisco | 36 | 42 | 38 | 38 | 36 | 190 |
Houston | 30 | 44 | 44 | 32 | 38 | 188 |
Kansas City | 39 | 29 | 27 | 47 | 46 | 188 |
Pittsburgh | 48 | 35 | 37 | 34 | 33 | 187 |
Seattle | 37 | 33 | 36 | 44 | 37 | 187 |
Cincinnati | 27 | 45 | 51 | 43 | 20 | 186 |
Tennessee | 40 | 28 | 39 | 36 | 39 | 182 |
New Orleans | 33 | 33 | 30 | 49 | 34 | 179 |
Chicago | 34 | 33 | 41 | 31 | 39 | 178 |
San Diego | 47 | 32 | 38 | 35 | 26 | 178 |
Washington | 29 | 41 | 32 | 36 | 37 | 175 |
Indianapolis | 30 | 29 | 32 | 42 | 41 | 174 |
Dallas | 35 | 42 | 34 | 34 | 28 | 173 |
Oakland | 47 | 39 | 25 | 38 | 22 | 171 |
Cleveland | 29 | 32 | 38 | 40 | 31 | 170 |
Jacksonville | 26 | 31 | 20 | 31 | 45 | 153 |
Atlanta | 31 | 33 | 29 | 32 | 22 | 147 |
Tampa Bay | 26 | 23 | 27 | 35 | 36 | 147 |
--Andy Richardson