JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Dante Fowler has already started to change his image on the field, but the Jacksonville Jaguars defensive end says he's just as driven to do the same with his off-field reputation.

Fowler has been arrested twice, received 10 traffic citations and appeared to referee a fight between the mother of his child and his girlfriend in a video that eventually made its way onto celebrity website TMZ.com, all in the past two years.

He's known more for those issues than anything he's done on the field with the Jaguars, and Fowler said that has to stop.

"When they Google my name, I want them to look at it making plays," Fowler said. "I don't want them to see me, my mugshot. I don't want them to see me on TMZ and bad articles and news reports because that's really not me. I'm a loving guy, and I have a huge heart for people. I'm human at times, and I made a mistake, and I can admit to that, too, but at the end of the day when I went through that I realized really what type of person that I am as far as being a pro, being a role model. People look up to me, and I don't want to disappoint people that look up to me the most.

"When people say my name Dante they want to talk about a soft-hearted, good guy, a teddy bear off the field but a monster on the field. I don't need to be doing the monstrous stuff off the field."

For now, though, those are just words. In order to rehab his image, he has to avoid doing the kind of stupid things he's done over the past two-plus years:

Fowler was arrested July 18 and charged with misdemeanor battery and mischief in St. Petersburg, Florida. According to a police report, he allegedly punched a man, knocked his glasses off and stomped on them, and threw his groceries in an apartment complex retention pond.

That was Fowler's second arrest in 16 months. He also was arrested in March 2016 in Miami Beach 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.

Several weeks earlier, a video surfaced in February 2016 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.

For Fowler, who turned 23 this month, changing his off-field image will require time.

"I put myself in that position and the thing about it is I'm not even that type of guy," Fowler said. "I'm not an a--h---. I'm not a bad guy. [The latest incident] was a bad decision that I made and I learned from it. I really did learn from it. It's just something that I'm going to have to show you guys and really the community."

Fowler is having a much easier time rehabbing his performance on the field, but he really had nowhere to go but up anyway. After missing the 2015 season with a torn ACL suffered on the first day of rookie minicamp, Fowler lost his starting job in 2016 to third-round pick Yannick Ngakoue in Week 2. Fowler finished the season with eight penalties and four sacks.

He has had an impressive start to training camp and had a good day on Monday in the first of two joint practices with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He squared off against offensive tackle Demar Dotson in one-on-one pass rush drills and went 1-1. Dotson tossed him to the ground in the first rep, but Fowler responded by dipping and sliding under Dotson's arm to record a sack on the second rep.

That's significant because Fowler imploded at joint practices against the Bucs last year. After a good start to camp, Fowler pretty much disappeared against the Bucs and got so frustrated that he took a swing at guard Ali Marpet and was kicked out of practice.

"I really don't like to say it, but that week, it kind of showed me how it was going to be last year with me pass rushing and things like that," Fowler said. "I realized I was a raw pass-rusher, and that it's more than just athleticism. I have to use my hands. I had to get stronger with my bull rush. [Dotson] was a bigger guy. He was kind of better than me at the time.

"That's different now. I've been working really hard. I like how I feel physically and mentally."

Coach Doug Marrone is pleased with what he's seen from Fowler.

"I'm happy with his effort level," Marrone said. "I think he gives good effort, and I think he's getting more quality snaps, meaning building on that, which is what you want to see from players. Now, the next thing we need is to just start getting the results, and they will come. It's a little bit of balance working with him. Sometimes he becomes extremely frustrated because he's not getting the results that he wants right away, but I keep telling him, 'This is what I’m seeing.'

"I'm seeing a guy that's going to be able to play more quality snaps and those things will come. Right now he's doing a good job."

On the field. Fowler still has a long way to go off the field.