San Diego Chargers Turn "Lights Out" on Merriman, Keep Offense in Fighting Form

The San Diego Chargers are never the aggressor, money-wise, when it comes to signing players during the offseason.

The last big-name free agent the Chargers signed was David Boston in 2003, and that didn't work out well.

You could possibly attribute late season runs that end earlier than expected to the complacent nature of the Chargers during the off-season.

Not this year and not this time.

If the Chargers want to become like their sports-city compadre, San Diego Padres, then they will do what they have been doing in past offseasons—doing just enough to be considered good, make the playoffs, and fall short.

The Super Bowl run begins this offseason for the Chargers and the resigning of Norv Turner tells me there will be a lot brewing in San Diego this offseason.

Shawne Merriman won’t be drinking from the San Diego brewing companies anymore as his lights-out dance became less apparent.

Merriman, who had a good, young, lights-out career with the Chargers, has given the organization no reason to re-sign after his past two seasons.

Merriman displayed a decrease in speed and the inability to get to the quarterback after last year's one-game season. He has never been good in coverage and with season-low numbers in tackles (36) and sacks (four) there is no need to give up the big money Merriman will be asking for.

With never more than 70 tackles in one season but being the only Charger with 10 or more sacks in his first three seasons, Merriman has some upside. When healthy he impacted games on many different levels and came up huge in big-time games.

Along with his recent lack of production and Hollywood antics, the organization and fans are looking more towards first-round pick Larry English to fill the spot.

With the amount of free agents to re-sign, San Diego will need to re-sign players that can contribute at a higher level.

Vincent Jackson is one of those players who can contribute at a higher level, getting better year-by-year, emerging as one of the best receivers in the league.

After showcasing his ability against the NFL’s best coverage corner, Darrelle Revis, grabbing seven receptions for 111 yards, you have to hold on to him.

Jackson has consistently performed well in the playoffs with 27 catches for 460 yards and three touchdowns in the past five playoff games.

As a huge downfield threat, Jackson has created a connection with Phillip Rivers who just restructured his contract

After signing a huge five-year deal, Phillip Rivers is the man in San Diego and will need a No.1 receiver to throw to.

Jackson is that receiver and after two straight seasons of cracking 1,000 receiving yards, he has proven that his size and speed are hard to come by and worth to hold on to.

The only problem for Jackson is that he has had off-field troubles, like getting arrested before the AFC Divisional game against the Jets for driving with a suspended license.

It could make his contract option cheaper but it could be a good enough reason for the Chargers to look in the opposite direction if they feel he can’t clean up his act.

I also like the Chargers to keep Malcom Floyd for similar reasons of Jackson.

Along with career highs in receptions (45) and receiving yards (776) in 2009-10, Floyd averaged 17.2 yards per catch—tied with Jackson for the Charger lead.

The offense of the Chargers has become so lethal because of the height and the downfield-aerial ability it presents.

Floyd shouldn’t ask for too much money with less than a full season of starting under his belt, and the Chargers will get more bang for the buck.

With the amount of quality players’ contracts ending in 2010 and soon after, the Chargers have a chance to hold on to players for relatively cheap.

One player is Darren Sproles.

He is what you call a play maker because of his elusiveness and ability to score every time he touches the ball by either running it, catching or returning it.

I understand that Sproles is a smaller back and many don’t like that for a starting role at running back, but it never stopped Emmitt Smith or Barry Sanders.

His size has never contributed to any problems before and may I remind you what he did against the Colts in the playoffs.

When he got his shot to show us what he was made of, he made the most of it.  

After listening to Tomlinson’s divisional post-game interview, it didn’t sound like he thought he would be back in powder blue.

It was sad on many levels to hear what the Chargers' greatest back had to say after the Jets game, he just didn’t sound like the winner and leader we all grew to love in the beginning.

Due to that, the Chargers have a good shot of holding on to fullback Mike Tolbert.

For a fullback, Tolbert was utilized as another arsenal in the Charger’s offense out the backfield averaging 5.9 yards per carry and grabbing 19 receptions for 172 yards, including a 66-yard touchdown.

After his second year in the NFL and as many with the Chargers, Tolbert understands the Bolt offense and brings the ability to catch the ball out of the backfield.

Being the only fullback to average over 13 yards per catch in the past two seasons and improving his blocking skills, Tolbert had taken over the starting roll of fullback over Jacob Hester this season.

With the uncertain future of fullback Jacob Hester and Ladainian Tomlinson, expect Tolbert to stay because of a low-price tag and knowledge of the offense.

Another key player to keep the Bolt's offense in tact is free-agent LT Marcus McNeill.

After reaching the Pro-Bowl in his first two years as a Charger and only missing two games within the past three years, the only thing bigger than the 6'7", 336 pound man is his talent.

McNeill has been a consistent player within the past four years for the Chargers, and protecting a quarterback’s backside is invaluable and hard to come by, which makes the decision to keep McNeill that much easier.

This is just the first-part to what is going to be an integral off-season for the Chargers.

With so much to do and so much in mind, the Chargers offseason will, HOPEFULLY, concentrate on protecting their asset, Phillip Rivers, and improving on defense through the trade market and/or the signings of free-agents.