In appears that Shawne Merriman's carrer as a Charger is over. He was placed on the injured reserve list today with a calf injury and a "minor injury designation." Because of this, once he is healthy enough to come off the injured list, he must be released. The Chargers could re-sign him, but that's unlikely because his celebrity-leaning lifestyle has made him a non-favorite of GM A.J. Smith. Because of a variety of injuries, Merriman had only 4 sacks in the last 3 seasons.

Before this situation arose, I had never heard of the "minor injury designation" rule, whereby a player HAD to be released once removed from the injured reserve list. (I guess 35 plus years of following the NFL is not enough!) Obviously, forcing teams to release the player makes perfect sense because otherwise teams would be stashing/hoarding players continually on injured reserve for a few weeks at a time with minor injuries and then play them once they were healthy. Teams would have unlimited rosters!

Merriman was a very good player, but his antics (on the field with his "lights out" sack dance) and off the field (as you alluded to his wannabe celebrity lifestyle) became too much to bear for the Chargers. GM AJ Smith, who has run ins with more than a few people during his tenure (see Marty Schottenheimer), had had enough.

I am sure, if healthy, Merriman will resurface with another team. A player with his abilities, will always get a second, third, even fourth shot with some NFL team.

Isn't it funny his sack production went down, after he stopped using steroids?