I have read this argument in multiple chats and they always seem to forget one key thing. The belts of giant strength.
Dump your stats on Dex to go first, you will get all of the advantages you want from Dex, and the damage from strength being they set your score having a 29 strength is a +9 to damage and to hit, rather than plus 5: there is no Dex equivalent. So by having a 20 dex you will on average start at the same time as your Dex fighter, and deal more damage.
Now for armor: +1 armor is always nice. Being harder to hit by any number is always great. The Disadvantage on Stealth does not really matter. Your job as a fighter is to kill, not to be sneaky. It's the rogue's job to use sneak attack, not yours. Set them up to succeed at that. It's always fun to have your slippery rogue taunt the enemy and have them get chased while you wait around the corner and smash them with a surprise attack.
As for range, you're dumping all your energy on Dex so you'll have the same range damage and to hit with any of the dex ranged weapons. You will have a better throwing hammer or javelin to hit and damage, but for those I find that it is not that helpful, range is not good enough, so the damage is pretty meh. However it is nice if you do manage to get Whelm.
To shield or not to shield?
Great weapon fighting with a maul takes your min damage from 2+mod to 6+mod per hit. Which is pretty great when you think about it. You won't take damage from a dead target.
However two weapon fighting is not always the best option. A shield and a one handed weapon also mean you won't get hit as often. I tend to carry one on my back for when I need it and a secondary weapon (in bag of holding if I cant wear it), that's one handed. If I know the target is bursty that means shield always. If I know that my target is squishy then maul always. (You can use your stealth PCs to find that out, and your mage can do a knowledge check).
I will note that the secondary weapon is best when you can use it one or two handed in case the shield gets lost. (Is broken in combat, gets removed by some other way).
When it comes to two weapon fighting, that is a weapon in each hand you get one extra attack being your using your bonus action. Bonus actions are not always being used so this is a great way to use an effective action economy. In each of these options were are using both hands so we cannot drink potions of healing when we need to. So stick close to the cleric.
Positioning
It is also important to note that you are the front line, you will be taking a lot of the aggro, so using whatever you can to stay alive is important. Your job is to protect the mage so that he/she can cast their big damage spell. This is why your AC matters. When you take plate to get 18 armor rather than 17, it's an extra 5% chance to not get hit. If it's a big fight you might have multiple people one you, and that extra AC will make a difference.
Multiple Targets
"When a melee attack reduces an undamaged creature to 0 hit points, any excess damage from that attack might carry over to another creature nearby." page 272 (optional rule). It's a mini cleave if your DM allows for this then a strength fighter does more. Assuming you have a belt, that puts you over the +5 damage any modifier up to plus 9. With great weapon fighting like i said before each hit does more, which means we can take advantage of this little rule to remove multiple targets. Which can really save a party.
What's the cost?
This is a lot more expensive to build than the normal dex build, but it allows for a lot with crappy equipment. Every new item you add gets you closer to your final build, which should eventually make you better.
Also if you find Mithral plate; you don't have any disadvantages on stealth. So I say Strength is fine later on your character's career: just don't make it your best score early on: wait for that belt of giant strength.