i hated this signing and still do......i despise the fact we send off our 2nd round pick from 2 yrs ago.....for basically nothing...who started every game of his career.....for a guy that knows his way around the trainers room better then the football field.....

hope it works out

 

Satele wasn't cutting it here. The fact that he started 32 games is more that we had no one else than that he's anything more than a adequate player at the position. Grove is a better C, period. You have to believe that the Trio has some other info about his medical past that make him desirable despite that problem. We all know that this regime does not endorse the guys that know more about the training room than the field. The fact is, again, that Grove is a better C than Satele was or is going to be...

This regime said last offseason that they wanted to build from the inside out on this OL...they tried using Satele and it just didn't work out. Because he was our 2nd best OL in 2007 and our 3rd best OL in 2008 doesn't impress me at all as a fan, so this move had to be made...This is a case where looked better because of the poor surroundings in 2007 and in 2008, but was obviously not agile or powerful enough for this regime. Satele's weaknesses was his inability to take on DL adequately, what makes anyone think he'd have done better at R or LG with that weakness ??

At any rate, we still have to see how this pans out, but make no mistake, Grove is an upgrade to Satele...

 

Where's the link, I'd like to read the rest of the article? or is this it?

 

It's all good, thank you for the article.

 

Grove isnt an upgrade to Satele if hes making 10 times more and either Allerman or Berger are starting at center.

Two things about this signing i dont like, 1 is the amount. this guy doesnt deserve this amount, yes hes an upgrade to Satele when on the field, but he hasnt proved hes worth that amount of money. 2, is the fact that we passed on the best center available since Kreutz to save a couple million to go with a older, much more injury prone, and not as good Grove. I really really hope he can stay healthy and play well, as does ever dolphin fan, but i really have my doubts about this signing...

on the flip side, 5 million gauranteed for Gibril Wilson is a good signing. if he flops, no big deal.

 

I dont mind the fact that they signed Grove but I don't understand how he was able to command such a sizable contract. That probably shows that he is more desirable then we think and there was some competition to sign him.

 

I'm going to hold off on commenting on the move until the middle of this season. Quite frankly, I can see the move either helping us or backfiring on us like Cris Crocker did.

 

I hope I'm wrong, but I think we reached on Grove. It almost seemed like a desperation signing once we missed out on J. Brown. He certainly wasn't someone I ever expected us to be interested in. Time will tell, but he better stay healthy with that kind of money!!...

 

I feel a bit better about Jake Grove after seeing the ESPN Magazine run down on the Centers who changed teams-

That's pretty clear justification for them making the change. Sparano clearly wants a center who can single block an interior DL. It's seemingly a luxury, but if they are really set on developing a dominant OL- and making it the centerpiece of the team- then it's a worthwhile step.

The injury history is troubling, but the coaching staff has a tremendous degree of confidence in their training staff in reducing injuries -and to be fair, they got both Ronnie Brown and Chad Pennington through 17 games with no appearances on the injury report.

 

Too bad they couldn't do the same for smiley.

 

To add to this..

The raiders played the AFCE last year. Do you really think the FO gave this guy that much money without studying those tapes and seeing how well he performed against the NT in our division?

here are some stats going "up the middle" from the oakland NYJ game...

1-10-OAK 20 (9:01) 25-J.Fargas up the middle to OAK 25 for 5 yards (52-D.Harris).
2-5-OAK 25 (8:25) 25-J.Fargas up the middle to OAK 30 for 5 yards (50-E.Barton).
2-6-NYJ 6 (10:46) 25-J.Fargas up the middle to NYJ 3 for 3 yards (50-E.Barton; 25-K.Rhodes).
2-7-OAK 20 (1:01) 25-J.Fargas up the middle to OAK 22 for 2 yards (Team).
1-25-OAK 34 (5:46) 25-J.Fargas up the middle to OAK 40 for 6 yards (93-K.Coleman).

now against the patriots

1-10-OAK 34 (3:37) 25-J.Fargas up the middle to OAK 39 for 5 yards (75-V.Wilfork).
(12:46) (Shotgun) 25-J.Fargas up the middle to OAK 26 for no gain (75-V.Wilfork; 50-M.Vrabel). PENALTY on NE-94-T.Warren, Defensive Offside, 5 yards, enforced at OAK 26 - No Play.
1-10-OAK 41 (5:13) 25-J.Fargas up the middle to OAK 45 for 4 yards (97-J.Green).
1-10-OAK 29 (2:46) 25-J.Fargas up the middle to OAK 33 for 4 yards (55-J.Seau, 95-R.Colvin).

also, as per my own records for the GM game, Grove was penalized among the least on that line (that line was penalized A LOT! and was one of the cheaper players paid on that line and produced among the best as well (falling behind gallary, I believe). now, these stats don't tell you that "jake grove made the hole" but "going up the middle" you can bet somewhere in there grove had to hold a man or help block somewhere. and those stats aren't that bad. 6,5,5,5,4,4, 3, 2.

the average rushing yards going up the middle was 5 yards per carry. You've got to believe if we've got good guards beside him we can get the run job done.

He started 12 games last year and only commited 3 penalties.

 

Wow. thats alot of money. And with a history of injuries? I hope hes worth it!

 

Injuries happen. You can't judge players based off them.

 

I dont think any amount of conditioning is going to prevent your leg from breaking when someone falls down on to it from behind.

 

perhaps the front loaded deal is in preparation for signing Anquan Boldin next year.

 

?

yes, yes you can...

 

Same thing happened to JT and he missed a few preseason games. Then he took a cleat to the calf, and this board (no names in particular) was up in arms how missing this vaunted program caused him those two injuries.

Do we forget that Dallas players who went through said program complained about how it causes premature injuries? When did this program become the fountain of youth? We broke down towards the end of the year a tiny bit which funny enough is what Dallas said would happen under Parcells.

I just don't buy any of this "they know what they're doing" stuff. We've seen bad FA signings already from them. what film did they watch of Josh McCown or Wilford? I don't like this signing and I hope to be proven wrong. That's all.

 

No, the same thing didn't happen. He got kicked in the calf and had a weird blood clot issue, he didn't have someone fall on his leg.

If someone falls on your leg in the wrong position, it's breaking. It isn't an injury prone issue, it ain't like Jake Grove has osteoporosis

They complained it shortened careers, not caused injuries. Which is probably true. How did the team break down at the end of the year, anyway? We had remarkably little injuries.

Supposed bad FA signings are different from developing an effective weight program and having observable results from it?

 

How would we do that when Boldin isn't a FA until after the 2010 season?

 

Crocker or Wilford?

 

Thats the hang up for me personally.

Smiley had a history and despite the coaches here, he still ended up on IR.

I hope that Smiley and now Grove can last a full season without landing on IR but I am not going to bet on it. :sad:

 

I know of one well thought of poster here who implied Smiley was somehow to blame for his injury.

 

He'd be wrong? I don't know how it could be up for debate.

 

Both, though to be fair, Wilford still has a chance to prove his worth.

 

I think when you say someone is "injury prone" you have to differentiate between chronic, nagging, relatively minor injuries that keep the player off the field for long stretches, and major injuries that couldn't possibly have been avoided.

Smiley may have had some chronic, nagging, relatively minor injuries in the past, and for that reason he may have aptly been called "injury prone," but he didn't have any of those last year. Just because he ended up on IR doesn't mean there was a replay of precisely what had happened previously in his career.

 

Those who never learn from history....

The problem with such analysis is that the FO never expected to hit on every FA signing. Rather, they were looking for mostly role players to supplement draft choices with perhaps a few becoming above-average starters, which, it should be mentioned, is exactly the same blueprint that the Patsies used when Belicheat took over there. And a comparison of how the 'Phins approached FA last offseason to that of the Jests (and their subsequent season records) bears out that they probably took the right road.

 

I'm not sure you recall the amount of money we gave Wilford. It was quite a bit. Which is why he's still here.

I don't expect them to hit on every FA signing either. Which is why I don't do the whole "FO knows what it's doing so we must believe in this signing" part. It's cool that some of you do. But I'll go ahead and choose to defy that order and continue to criticize signings I don't like. And I'll be wrong as well. But that's fine. I do this for fun.

 

You didn't read my post carefully. Two separate injuries. One in preseason, one later.

 

It was a horrible signing IMO.

Should have went after Geoff Hangartner before the Bills. I thought he did rather well filling in for the injured Kalil.

 

Although that may be true, I chalk it up to just plain bad luck.

Certain players just have NO luck at all when it comes to injuries. Whether they be because of bad conditioning or a bolt of lightning, they get hurt.

If that black rain cloud follows you around where ever you go, its something teams need to seriously take a look at before they throw a ton of cap space at you.

 

or that he is this year's Earnest Wilford :pity: