Buffalo Bills Release Shawne Merriman

At one time considered the best up and coming linebacker in the league, Shawne Merriman is now a free agent. The Buffalo Bills informed Shawne Merriman that he is being released. The Bills have already paid Merriman a roster bonus of $1 million for this season.

Jay Glazer of Fox Sports said via Twitter that the Bills felt like Merriman was better suited for a team with a 3-4 defense as opposed to the 4-3 that they run. He also said he texted with Merriman who confirmed he had been released.

Intersting twist in this situation is that he was vowing to have a comeback year in 2012 that put him back in the discussion of being an elite NFL defender and linebacker. Surely if they Bills were seeing that in training camp they’d keep him around regardless of what defense they were running.

But his future in the NFL looks like it could be coming to an end, unless a pay cut is in Merriman’s future. He’s injury prone and it’s been a while since he’s had a good year. Still relatively young by NFL standards at 28 he should be in the prime of his career right now.

So if Merriman is to find a team that uses a 3-4 defense as a home he is pretty much limited to the following options.

• Arizona Cardinals
• Baltimore Ravens
• Dallas Cowboys
• Green Bay Packers
• Houston Texans
• Kansas City Chiefs
• Indianapolis Colts
• Pittsburgh Steelers
• San Diego Chargers
• San Francisco 49ers
• Washington Redskins

It seems like from that list the potential suitors might be the Arizona Cardinals, Indinapolis Colts and Washington Redskins. The other teams have Pro-Bowl caliber ILBs: Baltimore has Ray Lewis, Dallas has Sean Lee, Green Bay has A.J. Hawk, Houston has Brian Cushing, Pittsburgh has Foote, and San Francisco has Patrick Willis. Even Washington has London Fletcher and might be off that list.