Shawne Merriman is What?

So, CJ and I were just going back and forth on this whole Shawne Merriman being injured thing and whether it was real or just him holding out for some reason or whatever. CJ seems to believe this is still about money and that Merriman should just show up, be awesome and collect his due at the end of the year. I would agree, wholeheartedly, if I thought this was about money. Personally, I think the guy still considers himself NFL elite and just doesn't feel like he needs to work out or take part in anything and that he'll show up for the first regular season game and get all Merrimanimal on the field and we'll all be transported back to 2006 where hope was all eternally springy and the dynasty was moments from taking flight and never looking back. I hope that happens. Truthfully, though, if Merriman does a single noteable thing on the field this season I'll be pleasantly surprised.

It's like so: Do I think Merriman is capable of regaining some semblance of his former self? Possibly. Do I think our defensive coordinator has the balls or the vision to run the type of defense that made Shawne Merriman what he was as a Charger? No. No, I do not. Seriously, can we stop giving Ron Rivera so much credit for something he achieved with the Bears like a million years ago? In Rivera's defense, though, so many of the pieces of that old defensive puzzle are long gone at this point.

As LaDainian Tomlinson (once referred to as The Best Ever on this blog and still referred to as such deep down in my cold black heart) will now have the opportunity to show the world that our system failed him and not the other way around, so might Merriman have that opportunity down the road. But here in San Diego, I'm skeptical.