Chargers signed Arkansas State DT Forrest Merrill.
A JUCO transfer, Merrill (6'0/322) produced right out of the gate at Arkansas State, posting an excellent 58 tackles, 7.5 TFL and 4.5 sacks while earning second-team All-SBC recognition. He went onto record 121 career tackles, 18.5 TFL and 10.0 sacks as a two-time All-Sun Belt performer in 29 games, a wildly productive career for a nose tackle. Merrill had a terrible testing profile (2.02 RAS), with his only mark even approaching the average being his impressive 36 bench press reps. He’s the very definition of short and stocky for the position at six-feet tall and uses his low center of gravity to fire low and burst into the fray. Very stout with a torrid, attack mentality and deft hand skills help him to shed blockers and make stops in the gap, Merrill is about as slow in a straight line as it gets but gives maximum effort and swarms to the ball.
