Thomas Keiser is a second-year defensive lineman for the Carolina Panthers. If you didn’t know him before today, you will probably remember him from now on. See, Thomas Keiser is the guy who eats Chia Pets. From Panthers.com:

CH-CH-CH-CHIA: Panthers defensive end Thomas Keiser is familiar with the 1990s ads for Chia Pet, an animal-shaped piece of pottery that sprouts like a shrub when water is added to chia seeds.

That hasn’t stopped Keiser from adding water to chia seeds – then drinking the mixture.

“People ask me all the time if it’s the same stuff that’s in Chia Pets. It is,” Keiser said. “I’ll have probably two or three tablespoons in somewhere between two-thirds and a full gallon of water every day.”

According to Keiser, there is some science behind this.

“It helps hydrate you, because it absorbs 10 times its weight in water,” Keiser said. “And instead of the water just going in your system and flushing right out, it’s going to sit in you longer.

I mean, I don’t know if this is real science. (He also compares it to the juice from Space Jam.) Either way, Thomas Keiser eats Chia Pets because they keep him hydrated. Keiser is in his second year with the Panthers. He accumulated four sacks as a rookie last season, but there is no information on the number of Chia Pets he consumed.