Fowler’s official departure is a reminder for Cowboys future strategy
Dante Fowler has signed elsewhere and official gone from the Cowboys. His time here was an important lesson in predictive stats
After signing a one-year contract worth up to $5 million to join the Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks , the Dante Fowler era in Dallas is official over. Again. Last season was Fowler’s second stint with the Dallas Cowboys.
His first tenure encompassed the 2022 and 2023 season with his second following a one-year interlude in Washington in 2024. In many ways Fowler’s 2025 season was as much a disappointment as it was predictable. Fowler was coming off an outlier season with the Washington Commanders .
The 10. 5 sacks he logged with them marked only the second time in his 11-year career he posted over eight sacks in a season. But the Cowboys clearly saw a repeatable performance, inking Fowler to a one-year deal worth exactly twice what he made during his previous time with the Cowboys.
The Cowboys ignored the red flags staring them in the face. They ignored the outlier sack numbers, and they paid no mind to the static pressure numbers. Pressures, a far more stable statistic than sacks, have long been considered a better predictor of performance than sacks.