The football world hasn’t heard much of anything from Shawne Merriman since the Bills released him this summer and it doesn’t sound like he’s hearing all that much from the football world.
Not the parts of it he wants to hear from, anyway. During an interview with 95.7 The Game in San Francisco, via SportsRadioInterviews.com, Merriman said that he wants to continue his career, but only with a team that wants him to play outside linebacker in a 3-4 scheme after washing out as a defensive end with the Bills.
“Yeah, we’ve spoken to several teams, a few early on right after the release in Buffalo that were a 4-3. We just felt that wasn’t best-suited for me to go back in that defense and play defensive end again,” Merriman said. “We’re just waiting for the right opportunity to play in the 3-4 scheme that I’ve been playing my whole career.”
Merman said his injured Achilles has totally healed since having surgery in December and took issue with the notion that he’s had a string of health problems when all of his injury issues stemmed from that one problem that’s now been repaired. That obviously hasn’t been enough to convince a team to take a shot on a player who, for whatever reasons, has posted five sacks over his last four seasons after racking up 39.5 in his first three years as a professional.
While it wouldn’t be surprising to see Merriman, who is 28, get another look from a team looking to recapture his old spark, it would be surprising to see Merriman actually recapture it after so many years of diminished returns.