Shawne Merriman Gives in to His Busted Knee

It takes a big man to admit when he’s wrong. Or perhaps it takes one game at full NFL speed to make a man realize he’s wrong. Either way, Shawne Merriman now knows it was a mistake to attempt to play this year with two torn ligaments in his knee. He’s going under the knife and his season is done:↵↵⇥“Shawne informed me he did not feel right (on the field) and thought it best to shut it down,” Chargers GM A.J. Smith said in a release. “The road to winning the AFC West just got more difficult, but not impossible. Nothing is impossible. Shawne is a great player and an inspirational leader. He will be missed. We wish him a successful surgery and a speedy recovery.”↵↵(Mr. Smith, I believe you meant “impossible is nothing“ or the judges would’ve also accepted ”anything is possible!!!!!!!!”)↵↵Good for Merriman -- attempting to play this season would’ve likely cost him millions. But there are still questions to be answered. Like, why did the organization clear him to play this season in the first place when four doctors had already told him he needed surgery and, according to PFT, the team told him back in January he needed the operation?:↵

↵↵⇥Peter King of Sirius NFL Radio (and virtually every other media outlet covering pro football, and a few that don’t) said this morning that, according to Chargers G.M. A.J. Smith, linebacker Shawne Merriman was told by team doctors to have surgery on his torn knee ligaments as part of Merriman’s exit physical at the end of the 2007 season.↵↵The rehab time for this operation is six to seven months. So had Merriman had the surgery after his ‘07 exit physical, he would’ve already been fully rehabbed. Either Merriman is just that stubborn or the team wasn’t persistent enough. Perhaps they should’ve threatened to put him on “medical suspension,” MMA style.↵