page_title: Darnell Dockett
section_title: Arizona Cardinals
hierarchical_section_title: Darnell Dockett / Professional career / Arizona Cardinals
caption_attribution_description: English: Battle on the line of scrimmage, between Jets offensive line and Cardinals defensive line (2012).
context_page_description: Darnell Maurice Dockett is a former American football defensive end who had a ten-season career playing for the Arizona Cardinals of the National Football League. He was drafted by the Cardinals in the third round of the 2004 NFL Draft. He played college football at Florida State University.
  Dockett played defensive tackle for the first five seasons of his career until the Cardinals switched to a 3–4 defense, leading him to move to defensive end.
context_section_description: Although projected a late first-round selection, Dockett was drafted by the Arizona Cardinals in the 3rd round, because his previous arrests and run-ins with coaching staffs scared off a lot of teams. He had a reasonably quiet first few seasons with six sacks in his first three seasons. The 2007 season was his breakout season recording nine sacks in sixteen starts. Then in the 2008/9 season he recorded four sacks in sixteen starts while the Cardinals won the NFC West with a 9-7 record. They then had a surprising playoff run getting to Super Bowl XLIII (which they lost 27-23 to the Pittsburgh Steelers) with Dockett recording three sacks in the game tying Reggie White's record.
  With Arizona shifting to a 3-4 defense, Dockett often lined up at defensive end.
  Dockett was selected to start in the 2010 Pro Bowl as a Defensive Tackle.
  On September 1, 2010, the Cardinals signed Dockett to a 6-year, $56 million contract extension, with $30 million guaranteed. This would have kept him with the franchise through the 2015 season. During the press conference, Dockett stated that he wanted to "retire an Arizona Cardinal".
  Controversy ensued after the 2010 NFC Championship Game, where Dockett was one of the critics of Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler, tweeting on Twitter: "If I'm on chicago team jay cutler has to wait till me and the team shower get dressed and leave before he comes in the locker room!"
  On August 18, 2014, Dockett tore his ACL, ending his 2014 season.
  On February 27, 2015, the Cardinals released Dockett.
caption: Dockett (#90) against the New York Jets in 2012.
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