Jacksonville Jaguars defensive end Dante Fowler had an issue with penalties on the field last season. This season, his penalties off the field are piling up as well.
Per Pinellas County (FL) court records, Fowler was formally charged Aug. 10 with three misdemeanors: criminal mischief, battery and petty theft. These charges stem from a July 18 incident in St. Petersburg, FL. His arraignment is Sept. 11 in Clearwater, FL.
According to the police report, Fowler left his car to confront Alvin Trotman, 55, who made a negative comment about the player’s driving. Following an argument, Fowler hit the man, knocking off his glasses, and then stomped on the glasses. Fowler then took Trotman’s groceries and threw them in a lake.
Fowler’s penalties off the field don’t stop there.
Fowler was also arrested March, 2016, for assaulting a Miami police officer and resisting arrest without violence. Those charges were dropped after he completed an intervention program.
Nor is that’s all.
Fowler has at least 10 traffic tickets in the last 21 months.
We’re not finished.
Fowler also brought negative attention to the Jaguars in early 2016 when TMZ broadcast a video of the player watching his girlfriend and former girlfriend engaging in a physical fight, and did nothing to stop it.
So Fowler is clearly running out of lifelines with the Jaguars, especially because he hasn’t played to the level expected as the team’s 2015 first round pick.
On the field, he’s had too many penalties and not enough sacks.
Ironically, a month before Fowler was arrested, Jaguars defensive coordinator Todd Wash praised the player for maturing.
“Dante has matured a lot,” Wash said in June. “You [saw] him a little more and more as the season went on last year. He is more focused on the little details. He is definitely here early in the building a lot more. You just see a young man mature.”
That quote might have been a tad premature.