The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 3 plus 3 plus 3 plus 5 letter word THE MEN AND WOMEN
T
H
E
M
E
N
A
N
D
W
O
M
E
N
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Players merely" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case players merely = the men and women.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.