http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/10/06/packers-activate-mike-neal-cut-phillip-merling/ I keep forgetting to add him to that dreadful list of 2nd round picks. Thought he might catch on in Green Bay. Should've known better.
He has made one play, and one play only in his career with the Dolphins. Yeah, it was a meaningful play but still...one play.
Whoever made it, it was a bad pick..Stay away from college seniors who are projected high draft picks who have soft bodies..Means even though they knew they were going to be taken high, they still are lazy or stupid, or both, about the most important part of their craft..This is a new era of the game, a scientific one to get the machine to function at its highest level, don't have time anymore for athletes who don't get it.
His rookie year too and from what I remember he was a solid player for us that year, might have been his best year. Oh well...
Merling could have done more if they had trained him to get to true LB shape and weight and played him a a SOLB. He was a misfit as an end.
Deej, we made him gain weight to play 3-4 end. We mucked up his career being able to play at his ideal weight. His woman wasn't helping matters, nor was our power lifting program. He's a sad case of the NFL eating you up and spitting you out. About Phil...
I was at that game. The entire row of Jet fans in front of me got up and left at that point. No division title, not even the playoffs that year for the Jets. Do not pass go, do not collect $200.
There's a risk to bulking up a regular defensive end, but consider that some of the rewards are guys like Calais Campbell and Justin Smith. I think it's hard to blame the weight when a guy like Matt Roth drops weight and moves outwards and is a good player while Merling hasn't got a sniff
To be fair, that's mostly untrue in Merling's case. Merling had sports hernia surgery and couldn't workout after his final season, his junior season (not senior), and went from 276lbs to 290lbs when Miami drafted him. He ballooned up big time after that fist year with Miami.
Ireland's success rate is still at worst solid if you add in the Parcells era. The differentiation shouldn't lead you to a radically different conclusion
I remember talking to a friend of mine who was a former college player and avid die hard college football fan. Basically any team in the south is his favorite team so he knew quite a bit about Merling. Said Merling had all the abilities to become a great defensive end and I remember really getting hyped up about us having him because my friend never missed on players. Point is I had high hopes for Merling.
My evaluation of him doesn't have anything to do with net weight loss..That body was neglected far before that hernia.
Imo, He had to gain weight because he didn't have the skills to play linebacker, and playing Dend at 274 isn't the best idea for a guy with his kind of game or agility, basically because of his skillset you risk less by getting him heavier, and expose more him more if he drops.
That's my point. Parcells drafted him because of his agility and pass rush ability for a 4-3 end. Parcells' was gambling that he could put on weight and still maintain his pass rushing abilities as a 3-4 end. Kid was rather dynamic coming off the edge in college. I don't think LB-er was ever an option for him.
What I'm sayin Rilla is I dont think at 274 or less he would of held up, and if he dropped weight he didn't have the muscle underneath nor frame to support that kind of drop in weight.
Yeah, I agree. It was a gamble that went south with his achilles injury. I just don't know how much of that is Merling's fault.
Me too, flew up from Florida. Awesome game, one of the best games I've been too. 2 tickets - $300 Airfare - $200 Winning the division, knocking the Jets out of the playoffs and watching Farve fail all at the same time - Priceless
i agree. i think he was miscast here. he should have been drafted by a 4-3 team and stayed at his 270/280 weight. he was much slower with all the added weight
So the fact that he was a bust was completely the fault of the coaching staff, who should have made him a LB? BS, Merling was a lazy bum who never put in the effort to be a decent player in the NFL. He was never a very good player and the only reason he lasted as long as he did in the NFL was because the Dolphins wasted a very high second round pick on him. The coaching of Merling wasn't the problem. The problem was Merling himself and he should have been out of the league a long time ago.
Merling is one of the reasons I keep suspecting that PFF's graders have some partiality toward Miami. Here he is,essentially his second chance just taken out from under him, possibly forced out of the league, yet if you add up his PFF ratings for non rookie years in Miami, he was at a +0.4, which means he was an above average draft pick for around that area. Yet anyone watching him play football knows he's not doing his job very well and the only reason he keeps getting chances is athletic ability for his size. Baffling.
