Shawne Merriman

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Shawne DeAndre Merriman^[1] (born May 25, 1984 in Washington, D.C.) is an American football outside linebacker for the San Diego Chargers of the NFL.

[edit] NFL career

[edit] 2005 NFL Draft

He was selected with the 12th overall pick in the 2005 NFL Draft out of the University of Maryland, College Park. Merriman was one of the pieces of the infamous Rivers-Manning trade as the New York Giants traded their 1st round selection to the Chargers in the 2005 NFL Draft along with others and Philip Rivers in 2004 for the rights to Eli Manning selected by the Chargers with the 1st overall pick that year. The Giants pick in 2005 ended up being the 12th overall pick which the Chargers used to select Shawne Merriman out of the University of Maryland.

[edit] San Diego Chargers

Merriman started off his 2005 rookie year on the inactive list and completed a 10 day hold out from training camp. He did not break the starting lineup until week 7, but recorded 6 sacks in his first 4 starts. He was voted into the Pro Bowl as an OLB after playing the position for the San Diego Chargers in their 3-4 defensive scheme which is the same position he played at the University of Maryland. Merriman's best game of the year came in week 15 when the Chargers handed the Indianapolis Colts their first loss of the season. Merriman recorded 2 sacks and 2 tackles for a loss, one of which stopped Peyton Manning for a 6 yard loss on 4th and goal. It was during this game that Shawne Merriman garnered much national media coverage and in the following week made the Pro Bowl.

On January 4, 2006, Merriman was awarded with the The Associated Press Defensive Rookie of the Year award. He received 28 1/2 votes of a panel of 50 NFL sportswriters and broadcasters. He beat the likes of Seattle Seahawks linebacker Lofa Tatupu, who received 16 1/2 votes, Cincinnati linebacker Odell Thurman, with 4, and Dallas linebacker Demarcus Ware, with one. On February 12, 2006, Merriman participated in the 2006 NFL Pro Bowl in Honolulu, Hawaii. Although in a losing effort, Merriman made 3 tackles and forced one fumble. “I enjoyed myself the whole entire week,” said Merriman. “I topped it off today by playing the entire game with all the guys I grew up watching. It’s going to be my first of many if I just keep working hard.”

In 2006, Merriman again began his season with success, recording 3 sacks and an interception in his first 2 games. Merriman went on to record 8.5 sacks and make ESPN's midseason All-pro team,^[2] prior to dropping an appeal against an NFL enforced 4 week suspension due to testing positive for steroids. In the 2006 regular season, Merriman led the league in sacks with 17 while playing only 12 games. He also added 4 forced fumbles to his career (2 BUF, and 2 in DEN). Merriman finished third in the balloting for 2006 Associated Press Defensive Player of the Year, behind Jason Taylor and Champ Bailey, after having tested positive for using steroids which is against the league's drug abuse policy. Taylor commented that Merriman should not have been considered for the award because of his suspension. Merriman reportedly responded by sending Taylor a "Lights Out" t-shirt and a box of popcorn with a note essentially saying enjoy watching him in the playoffs. Merriman, nicknamed "Lights Out," performed a dance to celebrate each of his 17 sacks in 2006. After the Chargers were eliminated in the playoffs by the New England Patriots that season, members of the Patriots began performing Merriman's "Lights Out" dance on the field in celebration. Merriman's Chargers teammate Ladainian Tomlinson, refered to the act as showing no class and being distrespectful.^[3] In 2007, he announced that he would no longer perform this celebration.^[4] In week four of the 2007 season, however, Merriman performed the dance after sacking Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Damon Huard.

Merriman will undergo knee surgery in the 2008 offseason but it won't hurt his status in training camp.

[edit] 2006 drug suspension

On October 22, 2006, reports were made public by CNN that Merriman would face a 4-game suspension for violating the NFL's steroid policy.^[5] ESPN's Chris Mortensen cited a source that claimed the suspension was "definitely for steroid use and not a 'supplement-type' suspension." Mortenson's report later came under scrutiny from Merriman's attorney, David Cornwell, who called the report "irresponsible and erroneous." Under NFL league policy, no player's suspension proceedings are to be announced before the suspension takes place. Subsequently Cornwell stated that he believes the substance his client tested positive for was the anabolic steroid nandrolone, and that Merriman claims it must have been in a tainted nutritional supplement he took regularly.^[6]

The incident led to the passage of a rule that forbids a player who tests positive steroids from being selected to the Pro Bowl in the year in which they tested positive. The rule is commonly referred as the "Merriman Rule".^[7][8] However, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has tried to distance the policy from being associated with the player, stating that Merriman tested clean on 19 of 20 random tests for performance-enhancing drugs since entering the league.^[9]

On October 10, 2007 Merriman was chosen as the cover athlete for EA Sports' NFL Tour video game.^[10]

Merriman currently has a career-high total of 38.5 sacks in 3 seasons thus far and made the Pro Bowl in all 3 seasons that he'd played (including rookie year), respectively. He also made an appearance at the WWE One Night Stand Pay-per-view. Getting involved in the ECW Singapore cane match.

[edit] References

[edit] See also

• List of sportspeople sanctioned for doping offences

[edit] External links

• Official Website of Shawne "Lights Out" Merriman