I would just cut him and move on. It is an embarrassment to this franchise. Someone has to take the hit for all of these offseason issues. This guy has the worst charge against him by far. He is impossible to root for as a fan. I mean the guy punched his pregnant girlfriend!

I do agree though you can't suspend him if you plan on keeping him until this plays out in court and a verdict comes down one way or the other

Phinsfan2 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Innocent until proven guilty.
>

Yea, but at some point he just becomes a distraction.

> Cut him if he's an embarrassment, but suspending
> him before a trial would only serve to prejudice
> the jury pool.

Good point. Cut him.

I would never defend a guy who hits woman, but he may not have done it. Let him have his trial and let the jury make that determination. If he is found not guilty then you must assume the verdict is true. Therefore, you would also assume that he is not the source of the embarassment. Instead the source would be his girlfriend. You can't cut a guy if his girlfriend is to blame. However, if his play in practice is subpar and he doesn't fit into our plans, then by all means cut him. If he is a potential starter and he makes us a better team then you must keep him.

If he is found guilty, then definitely cut him. Whether he is good enough to play should not matter and the league can suspend him on top of whatever legal punishment he receives. I would suspect the legal consequence would be huge when you consider the woman was pregnant at the time. That sends a message to other players and men in general. That sort of behavior should never be tolerated in our society.

In the meantime, I agree with what the Dolphins are doing. Allow him to compete in training camp and wait for a verdict before doing anything.

The only problem I find with my logic is what happens if he is found guilty after he makes the team. Then we may lose him during the season and missed out on an alternate player that we have kept and lost their services to another team.

Another factor is how long these cases take to come to trial. I doubt the trial would even happen before the end of the season, the way the court docket in S. Fl is backed up.

I wouldn't cut him till the facts come out, since this would not be the first time the cops got it wrong (remember Randy Starks "ran over" a cop last year and people wanted to cut him??)

Phinsfan2 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
>
> Where does it say he "punched" his girlfriend?
>
> The indictment said he hit her 5 times. Merling
> is 300+ LBS. If he punched a woman in the face 5
> times do you really think she would have been
> capable of calling the police or that she wouldn't
> have been in the hospital for some time
> recovering?
>
> My guess is that he slapped her a few times, and
> since she was pregnant it carries a mandatory
> felony charge.
>
> I'm also guessing that this gets plead down to a
> misdemeanor and he gets probation and counseling
> (and a new girlfriend).


Oh...so I guess it's not considered that bad if he just slapped a woman a few times as opposed to a closed-fist punch? That makes sense. Says alot about Merling and likely something about your values as well.

Welcome to the slap a ho tribe !!!

heres a solution the guys overweight never in shape doesn't produce and is a distraction. I think that is well over enough reason to just cut him and move on

pvtfish Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> heres a solution the guys overweight never in
> shape doesn't produce and is a distraction. I
> think that is well over enough reason to just cut
> him and move on


I totally agree. The guy has made one meaningful play in his life and it was when Farve all but put the ball in his gut for him

I said we should have traded him to a 4-3 team that needed a LDE last year b4 all this...His trade value is zero now. He was wasting as a backup for such a high pick.

He hasn't shown much a 2nd round, 3-4 DE but he is still our best backup and until Odrick shows what he can do, our best candidate for RDE.

.....................................................................................
“I'm here" You're welcome!" - Kenny Powers



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/20/2010 06:20AM by eesti.

The reason I don't see us cutting him is because Merling has the same agent as Parcells. So...

Hope I'm wrong but I don't see the guy going away unless he is thrown in jail or something.

I agree....he is insurance for Odrick at this point. Beyond him, the other DE's are average.

.....................................................................................
“I'm here" You're welcome!" - Kenny Powers

Just got deeper, aparantly he just hurt his achilies tendon!!

some people just aren't worth the headache. Merling is proving to be one of those people.

I'm guessing it's a non-football related injury since camp hasn't started and we haven't had an OTA/mini-camp in over a month. So he hurt himself probably off the field doing god-knows what. Meaning Miami doesn't have to pay him.

and training camp starts in 8 days

.....................................................................................
“I'm here" You're welcome!" - Kenny Powers