The Detroit Lions selected former Ohio State King Slob Taylor Decker with the No. 16 pick in the 2016 NFL Draft on Thursday night. It took Columbus under 48 hours to find a way to honor the Vandalia, Ohio product.
The Columbus Zoo introduced two 45-day-old clouded leopards, a girl named "Taylor" and a boy named "Decker," to the world on Friday night. According to freep.com, two zoo employees came up with the idea during a road trip.
Decker (the former Ohio State tackle, not the leopard cub) is a self-admitted animal lover who interned with Columbus' world-renowned zoo last summer.
Suzi Rapp, director of animal programs, admitted it's rare for the zoo to name animals after people who haven't given large donations. But Decker is a special case.
"Taylor is part of the zoo family, the Columbus Zoo family," Rapp told ESPN Friday. "Everybody was rooting for him last night so my phone was blowing up last night. It was just blowing up with everybody at the zoo because everybody is so proud of him. He embraced the zoo, too. He really did."
Decker earned a projected $17 million in contract money and signing bonus on Thursday night. Maybe the zoo will get that big donation after all.
