certainly doesn’t sound like a typical Trifecta signing.

I wonder if, in the same way some players appear high calibre because of their success in a ‘system’ if he’s been a victim of Oaklands system. Perhaps they feel he’d have better success in our OL.

I’d like to see the figures though. There’s always the possibility that they’ll use next season to see what they have as it’ll still only be year two of what has been said to be a three year rebuild.

Could also be that they’ve targeted positions in the draft this year and C isn’t one of those positions they feel they’ll get what they want. Alternatively it could be that these guys have unearthed a sleeper.

Guess time will tell but they’ve had more hits and misses so far so I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt on this one.

release Holliday to make room for an injury prone guy who may or may not be an upgrade? Pretty risky. We’ll see if it works out.

I strongly believe that he will have a contract less than 1/2 of what is being offered.

IMO he is being targeted for a back up in the case of Satele being traded

the Dolphins conditioning program has reversed the trend of many injury prone players on this team. I am not worried about injuries whatsoever, and I’m interested in seeing how Groves stacks up in training camp.

I believe that matty, cbdolphin and joel311 have the right thought process. As we saw last year, when Sparano says that they want “competition at every position” he means it. There wasn’t any at center last year. If Satele is traded or goes down…we need someone besides Ike to help out. Could Satele move to guard? Sure, Sparano talked about that type of versatility last year as well. Not to mention D.Thomas is back in the mix. I’m sure, barring any injuries any of these three players could start at either position. I fully agree with joel311 that injury should not be an issue with our conditioning program…I mean, how many of us were concerned when Ronnie came back from injury? No problem! The only players that went down for us in 2008 were truly injured not just hurt. Besides, this new regime wouldn’t spend even a little bit of money on a “broken” player. I like the move.

lets look at this vs. last year…

these guys don’t have the best record with FA – but signing FA lets them work other areas in the draft…
so by adding offensive line depth allows it does allow the team to focus on other areas of team needs.

say adding some youth in the LB position or secondary.

he’ll play center… according to that scouting report hes got the versatility the trifecta likes….. and maybe Sparano sees a guy on tape he can really coach up and make better……
or they know that a rookie center isnt the easiest way to improve on a 11 win season, so this contract is essentially a 1 year prove-it deal

I really like the thought of this move. It won’t make our team go in one direction when the draft comes around. Well I don’t know if he will be the starter or not I do know our depth will become much better which was our biggest problem last season. He has the versatility to play all interior positions so it could help out alot during the long NFL season.

Vonnie Holliday is not part of the plan people….he played allot less last year and by the time we are super bowl bound he will be retired. We didnt just drop him for Groves…but if we did I will take a good center for the next 4 years over a aging slow d-line guy.

Zach, JT, and Vonnie….not in the plans…thanks for playing. this is a business…so thats the way it goes.

that Grove is also a longsnapper maybe this is another reason for signing him. Sparano was pretty ticked at Denney for blowing those snaps in the Jets game.

Not every move the Trifecta makes works out. They’re so great because they find more good players (Davone Bess, Dan Carpenter, Anthony Fasano, Jake Long,) than bad ones (Wilford, Shawn Murphy). The injury history makes me think that Grove will fall into the latter category.

and back-up flexibility scheme that is seamless down-to-down the 3fecta want. Satele or Grove in at Centre or guard (wow wildcat confusion!) and of course Mack ready to take the snaps when he is well…ready.

I would rather have Birk

Matty, what the hell?!! Are you bipolar??
=-)

Seriously, you just wrote this big article about how the front office is doing things right, that they know how to build a team, and how they have forgotten more about football than you will ever know. How can you second guess them now, when they have a plan and you only have a partial picture?

C’mon, it can’t be coincidence that every Raiders 1st rounder plays below his ability! It’s not just poor talent evaluation. Only Wanny can accomplish a feat like that! The Raiders are a screwed up team… a complete mess. i would bet that any player who leaves the Raiders to play for a halfway decent team (and i emphasize the word TEAM), will immediately play orders of magnitude better. Grove is atheletic and position flexible. He may not be as big as we were expecting, but he is a definite upgrade to Satele. He has a mean streak, and will fight to the second level… reminds me a bit of Mawae, the way he used to get his hands all over Zach and frustrate him. Mawae is 6-4, 289. Grove is 6-4, 300. He’s big enough. He just needs to play on a line with good coaching and that actually plays well together.
I also think that guys primarily get injured when they are poorly conditioned AND when they get frustrated and try to play outside of their role. There are always things that “just happen”, but I view Jake as a guy who is passionate and frustrated with losing, and was trying to take the line problems his shoulders.

I have always liked Jake Grove, and was sorry when we didn’t get him in the draft, and evern sorrier to see him wasting away on the frakin Raiders. I’ll bet the Trifecta actually have done their homework on this one and I think you are going to be surprised.

As always, JMO. That and 3 and a half bux at starbucks will getcha a cup of what they claim is coffee.