Shawne Merriman, Former NFL Linebacker

All righty, welcome back in and this is that Gelb show coast to coast on CBS Sports Radio. We'll chat some football right now with the 2005 NFL defensive rookie of the year. Played his pro career with the Chargers and wrapped it up in Buffalo with the Bills.

He was a two-time first team all pro, a three-time pro bowler, and did lead the NFL in sacks in the year of 2006. And now he's running lights out fighting and that of course is Sean Merriman. Sean, always great to have you on.

Thank you for the time. How are you? Hey, what's going on man? How you doing? I'm doing fantastic.

Always appreciate when you come on. Yeah, I want to start you off with the Chargers because we all know they have a ton of talent. Last year they had a good season but it was a miserable performance in the postseason. Gut-wrenching big lead and then they couldn't find the way to get the job done in the second half.

You've been a part of something like that. What advice would you give them to try to quickly move off a big loss like that so it doesn't derail their season this year? You know, for one man, when you go from one season to the next, you got to kind of forget about it, right? Doing your whole offseason, you're walking around, you're doing your offseason workouts, you're with your coaches, you're watching some film, you still got it there.

But that first day when you walk into training camp, you got to forget about what happened last year. Obviously, they made a bunch of big moves on this offseason. They got some new players.

They got, they brought in, I think it's going to be the offensive rook of the year and then Quentin Johnson. They brought in Kellen Moore who, I believe, in my personal opinion, was the best offseason move as far as coaches in the whole offseason. So, this is a different team walking in this year and you can't look back on what happened last year in the playoffs. You're going to feel bad during the offseason but that day one of training camp, it's got to be a new team.

There's just some talking points that follow other teams and some big storylines that we always highlight. You mentioned the coaching. Brandon Staley is still there. I was not surprised by that because they made the playoffs but a lot of people question Brandon Staley's abilities as a head coach. Where's your confidence with him leading the Chargers? It's still there.

It's still there. I mean, look, I was at all the home games and some of the away games and just like everyone else, you look at a couple calls, whether it's on fourth and one or fourth and three, and say, oh okay, I would have won a different way. But there's no doubt about it in his leadership. I think that's why he's still there. He's a great leader. The players like him. He's a players coach and one thing that he will do, he will go out and correct his mistakes and he has been already. But I think the addition of Kellen Moore is going to open the doors and look, if he doesn't perform then they probably will make a decision on him after this season. But I think that bringing Kellen Moore in and being able to open that offense up, expand the playbook and not having the quote unquote dink and dunk situations they had during the last season. Let's see what the team really is after the off-season adjustments are made.

But right now I still have full confidence in Coach Staley. Injuries are part of the game, but I always wonder at Sean Merriman from the mental side of it, from a player, when a team just gets hits with a lot of injuries like the Chargers did last year, does that affect you just the way that you kind of operate and think going into the next year or do you just try to move on from that? You try to move on to it and you're right, I think we've seen something unprecedented where you got three or four of your biggest stars go down and not just for a couple games, but you know, Joey Bolter down, I played six weeks. Him and Khalil Mack I don't think was on the field at least more than half of the season together. J.C. Jackson go down and Keenen Allen gets hurt. Justin Herbert's ribs early on, I mean it was unprecedented.

I don't think we've seen anything like that. If you can't bank on something that critical happening every year, it's a part of the game. But man, you got to be excited if you're a Chargers fan walking into this season. You say you're excited if you're a Chargers fan walking into this season. We know everyone is chasing the Chiefs in the NFL, but even more so the Chargers because they're right in their division. How far do you think they're behind Kansas City right now? I don't think very far, but one thing I'll say about Casey, man, you always got to give them the nod, right? They're the champs. They have proven themselves over and over again. Patrick Mahomes, you know, I looked at him when he came to the league and I saw him, you know, being on the verge of being great, but he's shown something in this past year and playing through those injuries, not only playing through it, but being, you know, playing well and not only playing for his injuries, but all of it started as his wide receivers go down. This guy finds a way to win. You always have to give them the nod. You know, obviously I'm going to always love my squad and have support to charge, man, but you can't take anything away from Casey, man.

They are the truth. And you know this, the great quarterbacks, they find a way to win with less and that's what Mahomes did last year because first year without Tyreek Hill and they didn't miss a beat, they ended up winning the Super Bowl, which is just ridiculous. No, it's just past ridiculous, man. I mean, look, you lose a guy like Tyreek Hill, you automatically started to think, we're going to have a dent in his offense. We're going to miss a deep ball threat. We're going to miss somebody who can be explosive and make plays. And you look at what Patrick Mahomes did when his whole starting lineup goes down. And not only that, he's running around on a bum foot, bum ankle, and he's trying to go out there and play well.

I mean, at this point, you can't bet against them. It reminds me very much so when, you know, when I used to play Tom Brady back in the day and I don't care who he had, he was throwing the ball to or running the ball to or how much he was down in the fourth quarter. He just always has a chance and we're talking about great quarterbacks.

Now you got to start mentioning Patrick Mahomes as the all-time great. We're at the point where the conversation isn't how do you stop him, it's just how do you contain him to give your team a chance to win. If you were in that Chargers locker room, how would you kind of game plan going up against Mahomes? Well, I would say this and I can say this before I broke down the huddle, before every game, I said, I don't give a damn how great a quarterback is. It's going to be hard for him to throw the ball from his back, right? I love that you have to, you know, you have to hit these guys.

If you don't, Tom, they're going to just shred you apart. At some point in time, you know, they're going to have a breakout quarter or breakout half. I don't care how they look at the rest of the game, but you have to get enough hits on him where he started making decisions that is against what he really wants to do. That's the only only way to stopping a guy like Patrick Mahomes. If you're waiting for him to make a mistake, it's just not going to happen.

So there's this docu-series that's coming out. They followed the three quarterbacks last year. One of them was Patrick Mahomes and I saw a little clip, Sean Merriman, that they released today and it was an interaction that Max Crosby and Mahomes had and Mahomes like took it to a different level with smack talk because he was getting into it when Crosby got up into his face. I always wondered this because you always brought it and you weren't afraid to celebrate. You weren't afraid to talk smack. That's part of the game, but when you know that there's like an all-time great on the other side, did you maybe say, okay, I'll tone it down and not say something that's really going to set him off?

No, not at all. I did the opposite. You know, I was never really a big talker.

I didn't really talk to a lot of guys. I mean, sometimes if they talk back to me, I did, but you're right, man. I mean, look, you're not scared of anybody, but the last thing you want to do is get Tom Brady fired up before the game or get a Peyton Manning or Ben Roethlisberger. Those guys I played against fired up before the game. And when you talk about trash talk, man, I played with Philip Rivers. So, you know, the king of trash talk and he's another one, you know, you get him fired up in practice and he'll start to pick you apart. Is that actually true though with Philip Rivers that he never cursed, that he would always trash talk and it would be clean? Not one time. There was one particular time that I thought that he was going to curse in practice. We were kicking their butt. They couldn't move the ball. Antonio Camardi had an exception and Quinn Jammer had one right out there and I backed down the ball. And I just thought that he was going to curse one time, right?

Just one. And he didn't. And I said, if he didn't curse then he'll, he's never going to curse. So I still haven't heard it, but he still is the king of trash talk. Correct me if I'm wrong. I'm sure you're going to say that you believe Philip Rivers is a hall of fame quarterback.

I do. A lot of people though don't think he should one day get that call to the hall. What do you say to kind of make the case for Philip Rivers? Well, you know, for one, let me, let me step out the way because I know him personally, obviously played with him.

I'm going to be a little bit biased, but let me step out the way and just talk strictly numbers. If you look at the guys that's in the hall of fame with those numbers, even the ones who don't have Super Bowls and they're up there, what's the difference? Right. And if you, people want to, if people want to say that he's not a first ballad, I can, I can be okay with that.

Right. I can tell, you know what he may, may not be, but if you say that Philip Rivers is not a hall of Famer at all, then it just doesn't make any sense because the numbers say otherwise. Let me get to other teams inside the AFC West.

Then we'll talk about Lights Out Fighting, which does have another card coming up on August 26. The Broncos, all eyes are on them this year. We know year one for Russell Wilson out there at Mile High was a disaster. Nathaniel Hackett out income Sean Payton. How much of an improvement do you think we'll see from Denver?

I think they're going to make an immediate improvement. You know, I know Sean Payton very well been friends with them for years. Not only is he a great coach, but he's a great leader. And you know, one of the things that always stand out about me, about him to me is his ability to come in and gain respect because of who he is and what he's done in the National Football League. And me that the first day he gets in there, he's saying, you know, about Russell Wilson having his own trainers in the building.

He comes in and he can do that because he has enough respect in the locker room in that front office to do that. And let me tell you this, that division AFC West just got a lot tougher because Sean Payton is there. And we're going to find out relatively quickly if Russell Wilson had a down year or if he just physically done.

Right. And that's yet to be determined. You know, I think that he still got some gas left.

He can still go out and get it done. But the way he looked last year, didn't look like Russell Wilson. We watched him and his whole career, but let's see if Sean Payton come in and change that.

Let me get to the Raiders. We know McDaniel's is a great offensive coordinator. He's been a bad head coach. They get rid of Waller this off season. They haven't figured out the contract with Josh Jacobs. They say goodbye to Derek Carr and they bring in Jimmy G, which is underwhelming. Are the Raiders just a mess and it's going to be a disaster this year? Do you see some hope for that squad?

Well, you know, it's unfortunate, right? Because I think you're talking about a guy who I admire, love his game and Max Crosby. You know, they, Josh Jacobs is a staple of that offense, right?

He is. And without them running the ball the way he has, they don't have a chance in hell in many different areas. You know, Derek Carr leaves. By the way, I don't think that Derek Carr is as bad as they made him be on the way out. I do think he's had some great seasons in the NFL. But look, Jimmy G is in there for a reason, right? Let's see what he's able to do.

First of all, he has to stay healthy. If Jimmy G doesn't stay healthy this year, they are going to be a mess, in my personal opinion, as far as that team. So you wrapped up your career in Buffalo from 2010 to 2012. How do you look back at that experience playing in Buffalo? It was the best experience I had in my life.

You know, initially, I thought I was very vocal about it, that I didn't want to go there. And not because it was Buffalo, it's just that at the time, they wasn't a very good team on paper. And being able to play in Buffalo for those couple years was the best thing that's ever happened to me in my sports career because they have the best fan base, in my opinion, in all of football.

And there's no place playing like Buffalo. And to see them now with Josh Allen and Stephon Diggs and that team and all these new pick-ups they have winning games, there's nothing like winning football in that city because it's a different atmosphere. They've been so close. And like you said, the Bills fans, they deserve this. They are great fans. They've been so close.

You just wonder when you get so close, you'd be able to get over the hump. Do you think this will be their year where they can go hoist that Lombardi Trophy? I do.

I do. But this is the thing. And we talked about this early on. The AFC has just gotten so tough, right? So even, yes, they are a much better team. It is their time to get over the hump. The problem is now we're talking about Justin Herbert. You know, this and that division of Patrick Mahomes.

Burrow. You got six quarterbacks, in my opinion, that you got to go through in order to raise that trophy. And I've been in this situation before where teams have just gotten better in your division team. Miami's gotten better, right? I mean, Miami's got a lot better. They've got a new coach, new players. And so just that path to get there to raise that trophy is a lot tougher. But you're right. It is their time to get over that hump.

Last thing I'll ask you before we talk about lights-out fighting. When you look at a defensive player in this league, it's so tough now with the way that the rules and the penalties and the flags are called and all these quarterbacks now, for the most part, have an ability to run the ball as well. Are you kind of happy you don't play linebacker anymore in the NFL? Well, yeah, because I would have been playing for free, right?

All the fines are all wrapped up. You know, it's one of those things I'm glad that NFL changed the game and made it a lot safer for people, for the players. But also too, it's still football. And it's the reason why this country loves the game so much because we love the brutality of it.

We love these guys going out and getting after it. So you cross a fine line between making it safe and making it uncomfortable for people who just love the game. And so, yeah, I see some of these penalties, these quarterback hits, that's really light.

And I say, you know what? I would have just went right upstairs to the front office and handed my check right over because I know that I wouldn't have been able to play at this time. But it's still football. I still love the game. When I look at these pass rationale and these one-on-one matchups, it's so hard sometimes to be a fan to step away from it because I'm watching guys hand placement, watching how they take off in the football and the way they turn the corner.

I'm still a fan of the game, but it's hard stepping away from that because I love watching these guys so much. Sean Merriman, tell me what you got cooking with Lights Out Fighting. Yeah, we got a huge fight coming up at Palmer Casino, August 26th at 7 p.m. Pacific. It will be live on FUBO TV, FUBO Sports. If you guys don't have FUBO, get it.

This is our biggest car. It's my first time actually having an event in San Diego since I retired. And we were announcing it this week in a fight call. We got 16 fights lined up. So if you guys don't have FUBO, get it August 26th at Palmer Casino. You're going to be doing the Lights Out Dance?

Yeah, I will, actually. You know, but once it's over. So, you know, those four hours of live TV, man, I'm biting my fingernails, but I'll give everybody a Lights Out Dance at the end of the fight.

How did you come up with that? Because still to this day, I remember that as one of the great celebrations for a defensive player. You know, so I got a light switch on my right forearm, and I don't know if anybody ever knew that, but when I got the light switch, a tattoo, I was pretending to split the switch on and off during big hits and sacks. And so I started that when I got in college. Obviously, I couldn't follow through and do the full dance in college because it was, you know, we'll get a flag. But when I got to the NFL, man, and people really started liking it and it became a thing, right?

I mean, I would travel all over the country and people will be doing it no matter where I were. And I just love the game. It brought a lot of excitement to people and they, you know, kind of sit back and watch and sometimes even get it themselves. That's great. Well, continued success once again with Lights Out Fighting, and always appreciate when you give us a few minutes, Sean Merriman. You got it.

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