How do you feel about Merriman now?

[Boltjolt]

So your saying it was only the roids that he was any good? Im going to disagree.

Aftr his suspension he had 8 sacks in the 4 or 5 games remaining in that season. You think he was juiced then? I sure dont. He was told in preseason that he tested positive so i doubt he was using any during that season. Then the next season when he saw more double teams he had 12.5 sacks in 15 games and was hurt in the playoffs.

Just dont buy it.

[6025]

I wonder how badly he was abusing steroids to deteriorate the way he did. In his rookie year he nearly killed Priest Holmes with a hit that broke Priest's neck and effectively ended his career. I don't recall any defender, steroid abuser or not, hitting anyone with such lethal force like that, except for maybe Chuck Bednardnik's hit on Frank Gifford.

[Boltx]

The steroids contributed. Both to his success and downfall.

But to say that it was ALL steroids is not fair, IMO. He was still very talented.

[Boltjolt]

I wonder how badly he was abusing steroids to deteriorate the way he did. In his rookie year he nearly killed Priest Holmes with a hit that broke Priest's neck and effectively ended his career. I don't recall any defender, steroid abuser or not, hitting anyone with such lethal force like that, except for maybe Chuck Bednardnik's hit on Frank Gifford.

I dont know but they have been calling him lights out since high school for a reason. I had a friend i played with in my day that never took roids and ive seen him wobble linemans/RBs legs like spaghetti on more than one occasion on the field after a hit. Some guys just hit harder than others.

[Buck]

The roids helped him be world class, but he was still one of, if not the best 3-4 OLB the year after he got caught.

Had he never been injured there's a chance he goes down as one of the best ever Chargers and we possibly fair better as a team.

I think he had 12.5 sacks the year after.

[bonehead]

A lot of guys have knee injuries and come back. Why did Merriman just dry up and blow away? A juiced up loser whose body broke down

[Boltjolt]

I believe He also had an Achilles issue that kept flaring up. He was only 25 his last season with us so I doubt roids broke him down that fast. Baseball players took roids for years playing into their 30s before breaking down

[Sec-E4]

So was it the injury that slowed him down or was it because he stopped taking roids???? M

I freggin loved that Circa of Charger football

[QSmokey]

So was it the injury that slowed him down or was it because he stopped taking roids????

I freggin loved that Circa of Charger football

That obviously depends on who you ask.

No one will EVER convince me that the 'roids didn't make him the (fake) player that he was. And I agree with bonehead: He probably would have had an average/good career without the 'roids. Certainly not "All World" like he was in his first 3 years. He was simply unreal. Which, come to think about it, he was.

And I'd like to see some proof that 'roid abuse doesn't start to show until you reach 30. It seems to me that would depend on the depth of the abuse.

[6025]

And I'd like to see some proof that 'roid abuse doesn't start to show until you reach 30. It seems to me that would depend on the depth of the abuse.

That's what I was wondering myself. He was pretty unreal his rookie year.

[Sec-E4]

How good was Shawne Merriman ???!?!?!?!?

Shawne Merriman was so good that he made millions of extra dollars for players like Shaun Phillips and the infamous Luis Castillo. Seriously, Merriman was so good that he made it look like Luis Castillo was actually any good.

How good was Shawne Merriman ??? He was so good that his presence and play got Luis Castillo's to dance. He was so good that Castillo had the balls to come up with his own "Salsa Sack dance"

[WindsorUK]

That obviously depends on who you ask.

No one will EVER convince me that the 'roids didn't make him the (fake) player that he was. And I agree with bonehead: He probably would have had an average/good career without the 'roids. Certainly not "All World" like he was in his first 3 years. He was simply unreal. Which, come to think about it, he was.

And I'd like to see some proof that 'roid abuse doesn't start to show until you reach 30. It seems to me that would depend on the depth of the abuse.

Why do you even follow the sport then? Do you honestly think all the other great players were clean? Hell, even the not so great players? A large number of fringe players take something just to get on a roster.

How about a guy like Lawrence Taylor? Without question the greatest linebacker ever but also someone who took performance enhancing drugs( in his case cocaine not steroids)

How about a guy like Dennis McKnight( for all you young dudes, his nickname was Conan and played for us during the 80's)? Now there's a player who, through the use of pharmaceuticals, made a nice career for himself. No bad mouthing him?

If you're going to bash guys for PED's, then bash all of them. If not, just remember for a short period of time the Chargers had the most disruptive defender in the league. And as I recall, every Charger fan loved it.