Bills cut Shawne Merriman

At least OLB/DE Shawne Merriman is walking away with a $1 million roster bonus that he was paid by the Buffalo Bills this year as it has been confirmed that he has been cut by the team.

The parting gift won’t make the competitor’s pride feel any better but after experiencing numerous injuries which include recent missed time due to a hamstring issue, the writing was on the wall.

It’s hard to believe that there was a time that Merriman was on the fast track to the Hall-of-Fame.

As a leader of the San Diego Chargers defense, his sack totals and his Lights Out dance/ceremony were synonymous with his aggressive style of play.

Merriman notched 39.5 sacks in his first three years and saw his numbers fall in a series of tragic events.

In 2008, Merriman tore both his posterior cruciate ligament and lateral collateral ligament in his left knee. There was an intense amount of scrutiny in regards to his initial decision to move forward to play through the injury without season-ending surgery.

After taking a go at it, he eventually gave in early into that season and had reconstructive knee surgery to repair his torn knee ligaments and was placed on injured reserve.

From there issues with his right knee and foot botched his 2009 comeback season and he eventually even found off-the-field trouble with his ex-girlfriend reality star Tila Tequila.

After he made his way to Buffalo in the middle of the 2010 run, he hurt his Achilles during his initial workout with the team.

Now, here we are. Nobody can say the Bills did not invest enough time into Merriman as he suffered a season-ending injury in 2011 as well.

There is speculation as to nature of why his body started breaking down on him in the manner that it did especially in light of his 2006 suspension for steroid use.

That’s not for us to ponder about without medical facts. What can be said is that, if Merriman gets another shot as a reserve in a system such as Houston that runs the scheme he is used to, it could be his third and final opportunity to make a statement.