The Arizona Cardinals released longtime defensive tackle Darnell Dockett last week after talks with the player’s agent, Drew Rosenhaus, fell apart. Dockett is now free to sign with whichever team he wants—even before free agency opens on March 10—and has chosen to stop in Santa Clara on Tuesday to visit the San Francisco 49ers, according to Matt Maiocco of CSNBayArea.com.
Dockett spent 10 years with the Cardinals and played in all but two games with the team before a torn ACL ended his 2014 season before it began. He’s been hard at work to get back to his pre-injury shape, and by all accounts he means business.
No matter the logo Im gonna win that comeback player of the year….
— DARNELL DOCKETT (@ddockett) February 23, 2015
His release from the Cardinals set off many Cardinals fans screaming about the team being loyal to its most loyal player. But it takes two to tango and, putting two-and-two together, Dockett was not interested in playing for a lesser amount than his original 2015 price tag of $9.8 million. Some details on incentives he could have earned with Arizona have emerged in the days since being released, and it’s possible Dockett still returns to the Cardinals after weighing all free-agent options.
But it’s probably best to consider him gone. He might get the deal he feels he’s worth, and he might not. Regardless, in Dockett’s mind, the ship has sailed on his Cardinals career. He’s moved on, and he feels his next move is to sign with a division rival of the team that took him 64th overall in 2004 and paid him just over $52 million over his decade in Arizona, which includes two lucrative extensions before his previous contracts had expired.
It’s interesting to note that despite Dockett being one of the fiercer competitors on the field, one who is known to loathe his rivals on game day, he held no ill-will toward the 49ers during his time with the Cardinals. Before the 2010 season, he had this to say of the team he will meet with, according to Darren Urban of AZCardinals.com:
I don’t hate them. Actually I have a lot of respect for them…I am cool with a lot of their team. You don’t know that if you look at Twitter and you’ll be like, ‘Man, you really hate them.’ …
I love their fans because they’ve got some ride-or-die fans. I actually enjoy reading some of their fans’ tweets because they are really disrespectful and I actually wish some of [the Cardinals] fans would be like that sometimes too.
Dockett will be 34 when the 2015 season kicks off.
Photo: USA Today