Jacksonville Jaguars’ former first-round pick Dante Fowler Jr. is sending some mixed messages about what did and did not happen regarding a recent arrest.
Fowler was recently charged with misdemeanor counts of battery and mischief.
According to the police report about the incident in question, “Fowler got out of his car to confront a man after he made a comment about Fowler’s driving. After a brief argument, Fowler then struck the man, stomped on his prescription glasses and took the man’s grocery bag, which included liquor, and tossed it in a lake,” via ESPN.
On Tuesday, he entered a written plea of “not guilty.”
Jaguars DE Dante Fowler, facing misdemeanor counts of battery and mischief in St. Petersburg, entered a written "not guilty" plea Tuesday.
— Greg Auman (@gregauman) July 25, 2017
Though, one day later, Fowler appeared to be singing a different tune as the Jaguars were greeted by media prior to training camp.
“I just want to let people know and everybody know that’s not me as a person,” Fowler said, per Michael DiRocco of ESPN. “I’m a better person than that, and it won’t happen again.
“I told Tom [Coughlin] that I’m sorry. I told him that I apologize. I can’t make the organization look like that and put us in situations like that. That’s not us. That’s not how we are as a team. That’s not how we are as an organization. We had a good talk. I told them from here on out, nothing else will happen.”
Now, he’s not admitting he hit a man, stomped on his glasses and threw his groceries into a lake. But Fowler is clearly admitting he did something (“it”) he wasn’t supposed to do.
Speaking of making the organization look bad, Fowler has, per court records, racked up a stunning 10 traffic violations in the past 20 months. Given the fact this latest incident happened on the road, it’s clear the young man has an issue with operating motor vehicles.
Fowler was selected by Jacksonville No. 3 overall in 2015. He missed his entire rookie campaign after blowing out his ACL in the offseason and was only minimally effective last year (32 total tackles and four sacks).
This young man cannot continue to make headlines for the wrong reasons, or he’ll end up becoming one of many top picks who earn the bust label. Hopefully for his sake, and for the sake of the Jaguars, he’s truly turning a corner.