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Jacksonville Jaguars defensive end Dante Fowler Jr. has been suspended for the first game of the season for violating the NFL's personal conduct policy, the NFL announced Friday. Fowler will miss the Jags' Week 1 game against the New York Giants, but he is eligible to participate in all preseason games and practices. While the league did not specify what triggered the suspension, Fowler has had several off-field issues. In March, he pleaded no contest to charges of battery, criminal mischief and petit theft stemming from an arrest last July in his hometown of St. Petersburg, Florida. Fowler was sentenced to a year of probation and 75 hours of community service and was fined $925, according to court records. That was Fowler's third off-field incident in 17 months. He also was arrested in Miami Beach in March 2016 and charged with assault against a police officer/EMT and resisting arrest without violence. The misdemeanor charges were dropped in December 2016 after he completed a pretrial intervention program. A month before that, a video surfaced on TMZ.com of Fowler apparently refereeing a fight between his girlfriend and the mother of his child. The NFL investigated the matter, but Fowler was not disciplined by the league and he released a statement apologizing for his actions. Fowler had a career-high 8.0 sacks during the 2017 regular season and two in an AFC Championship Game loss to New England, but the Jaguars elected not to pick up his fifth-year option. He missed his rookie season with a torn left ACL and had 4.0 sacks in 2016. He has started just one game in his career, though he's a major part of the pass-rush rotation. Information from ESPN's Michael DiRocco was used in this report.
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