FRISCO, Texas – After spending a season with the NFC East rival Washington Commanders, defensive end Dante Fowler Jr. made his way back to Dallas in free agency ahead of the 2025 season and is excited to be able to don a star on his helmet again.
"It feels amazing to be back, I'm definitely happy to be here in Dallas," Fowler said. "I'm ready to get going with the guys for sure."
In 2024, Fowler had his best season since 2019 with 10.5 sacks, 39 tackles, 14 tackles for loss and even recorded his first career interception and returned it for a touchdown in Week 7 against the Carolina Panthers. A large part of that explosion in production came from what he'd learned in the two years prior with the Cowboys.
"It was pretty big, just to be able to go out there and show the people that I'm still here and be able to produce at a high level," Fowler said. "I felt really confident going into this season especially with these past two years getting to work from coach [Aden Durde], Micah [Parsons] and [DeMarcus Lawrence] with the d-line group that we had."
"I definitely took a lot from that and learned a lot from these past couple of years and took that to Washington and just put it all out there and let my work show for itself."
As he prepares for his second stint with the Cowboys, Fowler is hoping to be a reliable veteran presence for some of the younger, up and coming defensive ends in the room like Sam Williams, Marshawn Kneeland and whoever else may follow.
"Being that vet that can lead on the young guys, lead by a good way, try to develop them in a good way, lead by being an example," Fowler said. "Just going there and setting the tone for my defense and getting wins and sacking the quarterback."
The early words that players are using to describe new defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus' defense include fast, physical and aggressive. Fowler checks all three boxes, and believes that Eberflus can get even more of the same out of his. Game.
"He can get a lot out of me to be honest with you just because I still have a lot out there to prove and to put out there," Fowler said. "I'm looking forward to playing in this defense, I'm ready to go out there and lay it all on the line."
Even with all the success that came in 2025, Fowler still feels like he has a lot to prove going forward in his return to the Cowboys, and looks to silence some critics with another strong campaign in 2025.
"Keep showing guys that I'm one of those guys, I feel like I'm better than some of the guys out here," Fowler said when asked what he felt he had to prove. "Just keep coming out there with a chip on my shoulder, keep proving I love football so I play this game for the love of my game, every time I go out there, every time I get an opportunity to play football, I'm going to leave it all out there."
In his two years with the Cowboys form 2022-23, Fowler tallied 10 total sacks, three forced fumbles and 12 tackles for loss in 34 games as a rotational piece. The second time around, he's ready to reunite with some of his former teammates and step into a larger role to contribute.
"I love this defensive line, the sky is the limit," Fowler said. "Shoutout to Osa [Odighizuwa], just being with him and seeing how hard he worked to where he's at now, I'm definitely excited to be with him again. I love playing with Micah [Parsons], I love him, he's one of my favorite players in the league…"
"I'm definitely excited to be back in this defense and to help get this defense to be one of the top defenses in the league and to help the team get some wins."
