If I recall correctly, he played pretty well in the season-opener against Atlanta last year, with a couple nice tackles behind the LOS...then not much else the rest of the season. I wonder if he'll ever really put it all together.
Yeah I know he can help us win, I was just messing around. I actually wanted Merling or Henne at that pick 32 and repeatedly yelled from my seat at that draft to take them. Merling just hasnt lived up to expectations so far and I know he can do better because I've seen it. You dont know me well enough to say that I wouldnt do it. I totally would.
I've been trying to tell everyone here that Merling is a bust but no one listens. We should have called it a day and cut ties when he was arrested.
Good catch; He was a 2nd round pick, the article is wrong. Read earlier in the thread where this is explained. He was only in the 2nd round because the Patriots lost their pick that year. But yes, you are correct and the article is incorrect.
Even if they are unhappy, I don't see him being cut. If anything, they try to showcase him this season and try to move him in the offseason.
I think that is a heck of a lot more likely than him being cut. My current snap projections for the DL: NT Randy Starks: 770 DE Kendall Langford: 600 DE Phil Merling: 480 DE Jared Odrick: 400 DE Tony McDaniel: 290 NT Paul Soliai: 230
I'm yet to see anything out of Merling that proves me wrong really. Don't bring the INT against the Jets for leverage. It was one great play. I'm about development and he doesn't have it bro.
I hope someone can help him sort out his emotional difficulties. Not much else will go right for the young man til he sorts those out.
But to call him a bust this early is wrong. He's heading into his third season. He hasn't been as good as he should be, but we can't call our draft picks busts this early.
I agree with this. Matt Roth had about the same career path under Nick Saban and Cam Cameron. It wasn't until his 4th season, the 2008 season, and a position change that he became a solid starter. Obviously you'd have liked to have seen more from Merling to this point, but I think you have to wait and see what Nolan's scheme allows him to do. The felony charges cloud the issue a bit, but I don't think you just up and cut Phillip Merling. Now if Odrick comes in and totally outplays him as a rookie...
Well, I would not say "he doesn't have it", I will say his light is not on compared to what he should be doing, right now he is just a rotational DE, he could be much more.
Exactly. I'm still calling him a bust on the field yet everyone defends him. Merling going to jail just might wake him up but good riddance to the guy. They are a dime a dozen. They come in play lazy get in trouble. It is pointless to keep the guy at this point except to trade him. At what value I ask. He is a waste of time IMO. Just move on.
Yeah, Goodell is such a Bills homer that he suspended Marshawn Lynch for three games last year. Paranoid much? Merling is facing felony battery charges on his pregnant girlfriend. Since Goodell is from the Western New York area, a Dolphin is supposed to be able to get away with anything without getting a suspension? If there is a bias, it's yours. Think it through, dude.
Came into the league injured, has spent two years out of shape and not contributing to the team, got arrested, doesn't seem to have any determination to get better...I mean, what's to be happy about?
I wouldn't quite call him a bust yet, only because I think you give some of these guys 3 years to prove their worth, but only because of that technicality in my thinking. Other than that, the dude has done next to nothing since he was drafted. Someone else on here pointed out that he had a good game against Atlanta but disappeared for the rest of the year. I can't disagree with that. We always here that he doesn't practice well and he gets called a gamer a lot of times, but to be a gamer don't you have to actually play well in a game? Now he's out beating up his pregnant girlfriend and getting charged with a felony. This guy is knucklehead and guys like this that beat up women that can't defend themselves are not going to get any better unless they get some real help. Which most of them don't. Cut him, I don't want knuckleheads like that on my team. Even if he had 2 productive years or better,I would feel the same way.
Bye Bye Merling. And to think I made you part of our Detroit Lions rebuild. http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.co...hillip-merling-has-an-achilles-tendon-injury/
Merling had such potential and I was really very excited about him being a Dolphin, but I am afraid the slippery slope of the wavier wire is looming. I'd trade him right now for an accomplished FS or another NT. Lets wait until the rosters are trimmed down over the next few weeks and see what happens.
