Colin Kaepernick’s tortoise may not be the most unusual pet in the NFC West.
Cardinals defensive lineman Darnell Dockett said on Fox Sports 910 Phoenix that he has acquired a pet tiger named Little Buddy, and that he’s hoping to get Little Buddy invited to practice to meet the team and the fans.
“I’m trying to bring him to training camp,” he said. “I don’t know if they’ll let me, but we’re going to see.”
Dockett said the tiger weighs about 60 pounds and is “very chill, very playful.” (Pet tigers can grow to 500 pounds and maul their owners, but apparently Dockett will cross that bridge when he gets to it.)
Dockett also said he made an offer of $30,000 for a pet monkey, but the monkey’s current owner wouldn’t consider it.
“I didn’t buy the pet monkey,” he said. “The dude would not sell it. I offered him a price that the only other person who would offer him that much is probably Michael Jackson, rest in peace, but he wouldn’t even entertain my offer when it came to the monkey.”
Dockett said he believes the fans would really get behind him if he had a pet monkey, especially if the monkey attended games wearing its own Dockett jersey.
“Could you picture that on game days? I’m coming to the game, I have my monkey with me, he has my jersey on,” Dockett said. “Think about it. After the game, the fans see me with the monkey, ticket sales go up, Dockett jersey sales go up. Why? Because they all want to see me with the monkey.”
Although monkeys can be great helpers for people with disabilities, in general monkeys are not good pets. If Dockett loves monkeys, he may be better off donating his $30,000 to the monkey village at the Phoenix Zoo. They’d probably even name a monkey after him.