Tempe, AZ –The Arizona Cardinals Football Club today announced that the team has signed defensive tackle DARNELL DOCKETT to a contract extension. The two-time Pro Bowler, whose current deal was set to expire after the 2011 season, is now under contract with the team through the end of the 2015 season. In accordance with club policy, terms were not disclosed.
Dockett (6-4, 290) was taken by the Cardinals in the third-round (64th overall) of the 2004 NFL Draft out of Florida State. He will begin his seventh season with the Cardinals in 2010 after earning his second Pro Bowl selection last season while collecting 57 tackles, a team leading seven sacks and one interception as a team captain. His seven sacks last season led all NFL defensive tackles.
The 29-year old Burtonsville, MD native was first selected to the Pro Bowl in 2007 after leading all NFL defensive tackles with a career high nine sacks. He tied a Super Bowl record (Reggie White, SB XXXI) with three sacks in Super Bowl XLIII against the Steelers.
He has 26.0 sacks for his career, good for ninth place on the Cardinals career list. He is also just the second defensive tackle in team history to be selected to multiple Pro Bowls (Eric Swann, 1995-96).
Dockett has started every game the last five years for the Cardinals and has an ongoing streak of 81 consecutive starts heading into this season. He has appeared in 96 regular season games (95 starts) and collected 332 tackles (226 solos), 26 sacks, four interceptions, eight forced fumbles, six fumble recoveries and 13 passes defensed. He also played in all six postseason games the past two seasons for the Cardinals and collected 15 tackles, four sacks, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery.