Dante Fowler Jr.’s 2018 season was a rollercoaster, of sorts. After putting together his best year yet in 2017, the Jaguars were putting him on the field for less than 40 percent of their defensive snaps. He was merely a part-time player despite showing flashes of being a good pass rusher one year prior.

Jacksonville gave up on the former No. 3 overall pick last October, trading Fowler to the Rams for a third- and fifth-round pick. Wade Phillips quickly made him a full-time player as there was just one game where he played fewer than 44 defensive snaps.

Fowler had his highs and lows in 11 games with the Rams, including the postseason, recording 3.5 sacks, eight tackles for loss and eight quarterback hits. He finally began to look like the players Jacksonville drafted him to be in 2015.

This upcoming season is Fowler’s biggest to date after signing a one-year deal with the Rams. Sure, it’s worth up to $14 million, which is a large chunk of money. But if he wants to stay in L.A. as badly as he says he does, it’ll take an even better season than the one he put together in 2018.

Having a full offseason of work with the Rams will absolutely help and could make all the difference for Fowler.

“I wasn’t really feeling myself until I got here. I really started feeling myself, the coaches put me in a very great position, just letting me be me and letting me be the Dante Fowler that basically got me here,” he said. “This is a full year that I’m going to be able to start and just go out there and know the playbook and in really good shape and go out there and just be the Dante that I know I am. I’m very excited for that this year.”

Fowler joined the Rams in October and really had to hit the ground running. He had less than a week of practice before playing his first game in Week 9, on the road against the Saints, nonetheless. He came over from a 4-3 scheme and was forced to play a new position at outside linebacker – granted, a position he felt more comfortable at.

That quick change isn’t an easy transition for any player, let alone one who was playing part-time with his former team. That won’t be an issue this year for Fowler.

He’s in attendance for OTAs and feeling good heading into his fourth full season in the NFL, excluding his lost rookie year due to a torn ACL. With all this extra time to learn the Rams’ playbook, get comfortable at outside linebacker and get acclimated to his teammates, Fowler should take a big step forward in 2019.

And the Rams need him to do exactly that. Clay Matthews isn’t certain to have a big impact at OLB and Samson Ebukam is inconsistent as a pass rusher. Fowler will be close to an every-down player for the Rams and a strong 10-sack season would go a long way toward them extending him with a long-term contract.