By Kevin Acee UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER April 25, 2005 SEAN M. HAFFEY / Union-Tribune Shawne Merriman thought he was headed to Dallas, which had the pick just before the Chargers. Shawne Merriman is happy. But he is also the kind of guy to happily carry a little bit of a grudge. And the men who run the Dallas Cowboys, coincidentally the first team Merriman will play against as a professional, are not his favorite people at present. "Bill Parcells and Jerry Jones both told me if I was still on the board at No. 11 they were going to pull the trigger," Merriman said yesterday. "Not only was I lied to, I was smacked in the face." The Cowboys took another pass-rush specialist, Demarcus Ware of Troy, with the 11th pick of the NFL draft Saturday. Merriman said yesterday, during his one-day trip to San Diego to meet with his new employers and the media, that he is ecstatic to be a Charger. The team selected him with the 12th pick overall, which it got from the New York Giants as part of last year's Eli Manning-Philip Rivers trade. "This is the best situation to come into," Merriman said with a smile as broad as his massive shoulders. "I was still an early pick, and it's not like it's a team that was picking 12th because they didn't do well (last season)." But what left him miffed was that in separate face-to-face meetings the Cowboys coach (Parcells) and owner (Jones) told him they wanted him. Then, this past week he said he received calls at all hours of the night from Cowboys personnel checking on last-minute details. "I was hassled," Merriman said. " . . . They could have treated me like any other guy. They took the extra step and led me on." Merriman said he won't necessarily try harder than normal playing against the Cowboys in the Sept. 11 season opener. "But, he added, "it won't hurt to open against them."
I make it no secret that I would prefer Merriman over Ware. I couldn't figure out what made Ware the choice. I read this article and then it hit me. To do what Dallas had to do, they needed a Ware/Merriman AND a Spears. Had Dallas taken Merriman, it was believed by most that San Diego would take Spears. He was ranked right behind Merriman on their chart. Basically, it was a decision: do you take Merriman, or do you go Ware/Spears. It was still a risk with Ware that Spears would still be there, which is why they tried to trade up from their #20, but it obviously had a better chance of working. It was a package deal, and it was smart. Until game 1 and Merriman starts lighting us up, that is.
The same thing happen to randy moss they said they was gonna use there pick for him during the 98 draft but they didn't good thing ahhah ever since that Moss kill them in every game mn played the boys
Merriman was a smoke screen. So he's p---ed, I know Bills lost alot of sleep over it huh?. We wouldnt have gotten the two guys we had to haveif we chose Merriman. This was the best draft since the early 90's. In a year or two this will go down as a banner draft year. I like the Beraiult(Berry-o) kid we got to challenge the other deadbeats at safety. This guy is a lead pipe cinch tackler and I mean he brings the whole wood shed with him. This year Ellis and Glover wont have to play 70+ plays a game and will be fresh into the 4th quarter where we lost many games we were in late. Looks like an interesting year shaping up. If this Canty guy pans out then theres another first round quality player that fell into our laps. If not then we blew a 5th, big deal. DEfense, Defense, Defense. Gotta love it. Later.....
