Is an injury the reason for Fowler’s struggles?

Dante Fowler is not off to a hot start in the NFL. After having two sacks against the Chargers in week 2, and a quarterback hit that led to an INT against the Ravens in week 3, Fowler’s production has taken a nose dive. He’s been pretty invisible, outside of his bad penalties, but could a shoulder injury be the reason why?

According to Hays Carlyon and Ryan O’Halloran of the Times-Union, that’s exactly the reason Fowler is giving right now.

Fowler told the Times-Union he sustained a shoulder injury in the Week 3 loss to Baltimore that is still affecting him.

“It’s frustrating,” Fowler said.

A team source confirmed Fowler’s injury and said it may have impacted his playing time in the weeks after the Ravens game.

You can read the full article here. As the article goes on to mention, Fowler has not once appeared on the injury report for his shoulder. Many people, including myself, have been very critical of Fowler this year. I’m not sure that all of his struggles can be attributed to his shoulder injury, especially his troubles with personal fouls. But the timeline given does make some sense, as while Fowler has never been totally disruptive this year, he did look better in those first three games than he has recently.

It’s unfortunate Fowler is having to play through an injury, but it does give some hope that he can improve his production once he is fully healthy again. The Jaguars defense could definitely use a boost in the pass rush department.