Falcons' Fowler: Goals, Loyalty and Teammates

Dante Fowler is feeling the pressure after a subpar 2020 with the Atlanta Falcons, but his mood brightened noticeably when the subject turned to 2021.

Dante Fowler is feeling a lot of pressure after a sub-par performance in 2020. After the Atlanta Falcons practice on Monday, a relatively-somber Fowler talked about his goals in the offseason and his struggles last season.

Once the topic turned to his teammates, though, his mood immediately brightened, and it was obvious he's enjoying being back at practice.

READ MORE: Dante Fowler 'I'm Ready to Make a Statement'

"I felt like I wasn't as explosive as I was in the past years last year,'' he said in a self-evaluation. "And you know, building the little small things up so I won't be able to have little lingering injuries any more coming into the year. And getting stronger."

Asked if he accomplished his mission and could feel the difference on the practice field, Fowler had no doubts.

"It's definitely there," he said. "I feel way much better than I felt last year around this time. I think the work that I was doing during the offseason, focusing on being more explosive, my approach, the way I rush the passer, everything like that, I feel pretty good about it."

After putting in the work in the offseason, Fowler was eager to impress a new set of coaches. His start to camp was delayed with a stint on the injured/COVID-19 list. He returned to camp last week, and he's being eased back into action.

But he's ready for more.

"That's just the type of player that I am,'' he said. "I've been out for a week, so I was ready to get into action just to show them what I was about. But when it comes to taking care of their players, I'm not going to question them on that. I feel at this point if I get a couple reps off or something like that after doing good reps, I think that's very much needed. So I appreciate them for that."

Fowler played for former head coach Dan Quinn at Florida, and that was part of the reason he came to Atlanta. It's also a big reason why he felt he needed to be on the field, even if he wasn't 100% healthy.

Said Fowler: "I was hurt, DQ, that was my guy, so I felt like it was only right to play for him. There was times when I probably should have went to IR, but I didn't. And it is what it is. I learned. Live and learn. Learn from it and grow from it. I'm healthy. I'm ready to go."

Fowler's demeanor changed noticeably when he got to talk about his teammates instead of himself.

"That was dope just to see Jaylinn [Hawkins] out there making plays. See the defensive line out there making plays. Jonathan Bullard got to make a play. I haven't seen him make a sack since college," Fowler said with a laugh. "Ade [Adetokunbo Ogundeji] did a really good job; Tui [Jacob Tuioti-Mariner] did a good job of rushing the passer when he was in there. I was very excited to see what it's going to be like."

The Falcons will be excited to get a healthy Dante Fowler on the field. The early returns on coordinator Dean Pees' defense were good on Friday, and Fowler can be a big part of making Atlanta successful on that side of the ball.