Quote:Only a Gator hater would spew that crap about him.

I swear I didn't mean for this to be so long; I just can't sleep. Haha


I assume I made three major points you disagree with: 1) Fowler was an average pass rusher with average numbers, 2) Fowler had a bad combine outside the 40, and 3) Fowler continuously failed to set the edge and get to the QB.


1. In 3 years at Florida, Fowler racked up 14.5 sacks and 33 tackles for a loss. More than a third of his sacks came in two games; he got 3 sacks against East Carolina in his final bowl game and 2 sacks against Kentucky a year before. Fowler had some highly favorable matchups against lower tier teams; ex. Toledo, South Carolina, Georgia Southern, Eastern Michigan, Eastern Kentucky, Bowling Green, Louisiana Lafayette, etc.; in which he combined for a total of ZERO sacks and 3 tackles for a loss.


Shane Ray, in his final season at Missouri alone, accounted for 14.5 sacks and 22.5 tackles for a loss. In 2013, Beasley accounted for 13 sacks and 22.5 tackles for a loss. In 2013, Gregory accounted for 9.5 sacks and 17 tackles for a loss. Bud Dupree, in his final season at Kentucky, accounted for 9.5 sacks and 15 tackles for a loss.


2. Fowler ran a quick 4.60 in the 40-yard dash. He was not as quick as Beasley's 4.53, but was faster than Gregory, Dupree, etc. Fowler's bench press of 19 was one of the worst of all defensive line prospects. In comparison, Beasley had 35, Gregory 24, and Ray 21. In the shuttle, Fowler once again was in the lower half of defensive line prospects. Lastly, Fowler's cone drill was in the lower half of all defense line prospects.


All one has to do is pull up the combine results and sort via the drill (bench press, shuttle, cone, etc) and see that Fowler's name is in the lower half, if not the bottom 3 or 4, of most of the drills. A quicker way to analyze these numbers is to use SPARQs advanced analytical rankings. SPARQ crunched the prospects numbers and came up with their overall athleticism and compared them to current NFL players. The rSPARQ takes into account height, weight, 40 time, vertical & broad jump, short shuttle, 3-cone drill, and bench press to come up with a single picture of a prospect's athleticism. The pSPARQ score is pretty self explanatory. "NFL Perc" score relates to how they stack up against the average athlete in the NFL. An "NFL Perc" score of 50 means the player is an "average" athlete by NFL standards.


Fowler is ranked a low 17 out of the 20 edge rushers analyzed. His NFL percentage was only 47.1%, compared to Beasley at 99.2%, Dupree 97.7%, Gregory 88.3%, etc. Fowler may be fast and athletic, but he in no way compares to the athleticism displayed by his fellow, former prospects or current NFL pass rushers.


3. Fowler is quick and very versatile. I've seen him play 4 or 5 positions in one game alone. However, that versatility can also hurt him. I've never heard someone say, "Wow, Fowler is a good pass rusher." He may be good at a lot of things, but you can't point to me one thing he is "great" at. Almost all the times he got to the QB was when he misdirected inside, usually against far inferior right tackles. Very, very rarely on tape did I see him actually set the edge and get around the corner. He is limited by his lack of counters and inability to use his hands properly. An advantage of Fowler, however, is his age. He is only 21. These things can be taught at the next level. Although he may have the lowest floor of the other pass rushers, it is probably safe to say he has the highest ceiling.

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