Merriman’s holdout a failure

Shawne Merriman signed his $3,269,000, one-year tender with the San Diego Chargers on Friday, admitting his two-week holdout didn’t accomplish anything.

The star outside linebacker won’t play in tonight’s exhibition opener against Chicago, but coach Norv Turner expects him to be ready by next weekend’s game against Dallas.

Merriman, once one of the most-feared players in the NFL, stood on the sideline watching Friday’s walkthrough, the sleeves on his jersey rolled up to expose his tattooed arms.

“I think it was time for me to come in and get ready,” said Merriman, who’s trying to regain the form that resulted in 391/2 sacks in his first three seasons. “You can’t show up Game 1, Game 2, whatever, and expect to be ready. The only way to emulate football is to play football.”

Merriman softened his stance on a handful of issues, including one in which he was quoted as saying he wanted the Chargers to tell him he wouldn’t be traded during the season.

So what did his holdout accomplish?

“No, I didn’t accomplish anything at all because I always knew that I was wanted here and that was one of the biggest reasons for getting some things sorted out,” he said. “But just the whole business part of it you just hate to deal with. I’m just so glad that that’s behind me now where I can go out and play.”

Coffee leaves team

Running back Glen Coffee left the San Francisco 49ers, telling the team he no longer wants to play football. Coffee, San Francisco’s third-round draft pick in 2009, was the team’s second-leading rusher as a rookie last season with 226 yards, but he averaged just 2.7 yards per carry and scored one touchdown.

Pats’ Warren placed on IR

New England defensive end Ty Warren is sidelined for the season by a hip injury. The Patriots placed Warren on injured reserve after he missed most training camp practices. Linebacker Derrick Burgess reported and was reinstated from the reserve-did not report list after considering retirement.

Friday’s results

Eagles 28, Jaguars 27: Playing its first game without Donovan McNabb, host Philadelphia showed it has capable quarterbacks. Starter Kevin Kolb was impressive and backup Michael Vick displayed flashes of his old self before rookie Mike Kafka rallied the Eagles to a victory over Jacksonville.

Redskins 42, Bills 17: Donovan McNabb threw a touchdown pass in his Washington debut in a win over Buffalo at Landover, Md. McNabb went 5 for 8 for 58 yards in two series.

Falcons 20, Chiefs 10: Matt Ryan played two decent series. Matt Cassel played four average ones. Both quarterbacks lacked solid protection in the preseason opener, but Ryan’s Falcons got better play from their rookie reserves in Atlanta’s victory over Cassel and visiting Kansas City.