Jaguars DE Dante Fowler arrested for second time in just 17 months

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It’s safe to say the NFL career of former Florida Gators defensive end Dante Fowler Jr. has been off to a rocky start. After missing his entire rookie season due to injury, Fowler has now been arrested for the second time in 17 months as he prepares for his third NFL campaign.

Fowler was arrested on Tuesday night while in St. Petersburg, Florida, on misdemeanor charges of simple battery and criminal mischief. He reportedly fought with a man who criticized his driving. Fowler allegedly hit the man, stepped on the man’s glasses and threw his groceries into a lake; the man was not injured in the incident.

According to the Tampa Bay Times‘ Greg Auman, Fowler was previously arrested in an unreported incident back in March 2016. While in Miami, Fowler was charged with misdemeanor assault and resisting arrest — charges that were dropped nine months later after a pretrial intervention program — after an incident involving a police officer or EMT.

Due to Fowler already being involved in a pretrial intervention, he may be unable to plea out of his latest charges. Additionally, this being Fowler’s second major incident since joining the NFL puts him at risk of league discipline.

It was discovered later Wednesday that Fowler has actually acquired at least 10 traffic tickets over the last 20 months. In other words, he’s been involved in a minimum of 12 legal incidents in a span of less than two years.

In his first active NFL season, Fowler picked up 32 tackles, four sacks and five pass defenses over 16 games. Not exactly numbers that Jacksonville was desiring from its No. 3 overall pick in the 2015 NFL Draft, though him coming back from injury certainly played a role in his performance.