Former All-Pro LB Shawne Merriman talks Chargers, Patrick Mahomes and NFL preseason

Shawne Merriman has entered a new chapter of his career, but the former All-Pro linebacker hasn’t stopped thinking about football.

After retiring from the NFL in 2013, Merriman moved on to a different sport: mixed martial arts.

He founded Lights Out Xtreme Fighting (LXF), an MMA league, in 2019 and has developed several rising stars in the sport. For Merriman, there were some obvious ties between football and MMA that made him want to pursue this venture.

“There’s a lot of translation, and that’s why I got into (MMA),” said Merriman, who had 46 career sacks in the NFL. “I started to train MMA when I was playing (football) during the offseason. I wanted to get better at using my hands as a pass-rusher. And in fact, I started to try to get a lot of current and former players to pick up some form of combat sports because it just helps you out.

“But I think more importantly just the discipline, you know, the discipline of it. Still being competitive, for me, being around this sport, the energy. There's a big gap when you retire and you're trying to figure the next thing out. For me, it was like, I rolled right into doing combat sports and being in the live sport business.”

LXF will hold its 10th event on Saturday, Aug. 26, from a familiar location: San Diego. While LXF has never traveled to the city, Merriman made his name there.

He played six seasons with the Chargers after being a first-round pick in 2005. The accolades piled up quickly for Merriman, who was named to the Pro Bowl in his first three seasons, won Defensive Rookie of the Year in 2005 and was named First- and Second-Team All-Pro in 2006 and 2007, respectively.

This season, even after a disappointing postseason collapse last January, he’s optimistic about his former squad.

“I still have them winning at least 13 games, I think the Chargers win 13 games this year, to be honest,” Merriman said. “That's really gonna come down to health. Last year, I know people were talking about them getting put out of the playoffs by Jacksonville, but you're looking at a team that was decimated all over the field – linebackers, cornerbacks, Derwin James is down a bit. Keenan Allen was down. Justin Herbert got hurt during the third game of the year.

“So when you look at how hurt and beat up and injured they were last year, to still make the playoffs, that is a big thing. So if they can stay healthy this year, I have them winning 13 games.”

While Merriman has high expectations for the Chargers, it’s another AFC West team that has stolen the spotlight since he retired.

The Kansas City Chiefs enter the 2023 season as the defending Super Bowl champions. Since Patrick Mahomes took over as starting quarterback, the Chiefs have made five straight AFC Championship Games and won two Super Bowls.

“Always the defending champs – the biggest target is always gonna go to the defending champs because at the end of the day, they're the ones that everyone has to knock off to take their position,” Merriman said. “As long as Andy Reid, Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce are together, they're always going to have a shot.

“Chris Jones, he's looking for a new contract. He's one of the best D-linemen in football. They've upgraded some parts of the defensive core. Don't be shocked if they are not as good as they were last year, but they're still going to win a lot of games.”

At this point in the summer, fans can only cling to the preseason. Many star players will hardly play, if at all, in the exhibition action, so it’s tough to truly learn much about the regular season.

Still, Merriman cited the importance of training camp and the preseason – especially for young players. It’s not as much about the wins and losses, but more about getting comfortable being in the NFL.

“I think preseason is very important when you're talking about the guys in the first three or four years,” Merriman said. “You're still learning, still getting used to what you're doing. You still want to go through the mold and prepare for the game because that's all preseason really is. It's just getting you prepared for the game, showing up two or three hours before, going through your workout routine, getting off on and off the field, doing plays and special teams. It’s really just about organization.

“After you get past your fourth year, you're like, ‘Let me just get to the season, right?’ You look at preseason, like, ‘Let me just get through it healthy and let me get to Week 1. So I look at preseason as beneficial for most of the young guys.”

Merriman will be focused on LXF this weekend while the NFL preseason wraps up. The league, which prides itself on being a home for rising young fighters, can almost be seen as a “preseason” for athletes hoping to reach the UFC or other professional MMA leagues.

“We’ve got the next big, up-and-coming superstars of the sport,” Merriman said.

You can watch LXF 10 on Fubo Sports on Saturday, Aug. 26, at 10 p.m. ET.