Merged: Jake Grove officially signed/Interview on WQAM

"CrunchTime wrote:

Oakland offensive lineman Jake Grove is in town for a free agency visit that will officially begin Tuesday. Grove, 29, is a free agent because he met playing time incentives in his contract and the final year of his deal was voided. The Raiders have been trying to re-sign him, obviously with no luck so far.
"We want him back, obviously," Raiders coach Tom Cable said Feb. 19 when asked if he was comfortable with the player's status. "So if he's not there or until it's resolved I'm not comfortable at all."
Cable's discomfort could grow substantially in the next 24 hours.
If the Dolphins are able to sign the 6-4 and 300 pound Grove, consider him your starting center for the 2009 season.

http://miamiherald.typepad.com/dolph...-to-miami.html

I like this development .He is one of the top Centers available .

Now it's "Miami Dolphins close to deal with Raiders center Jake Grove"

http://www.miamiherald.com/sports/football/story/929341.html

but weren't close to a deal with bennett as well?:wink2:

If he's healthy and reasonable he'll probably be under contract before he leaves the area.
...darn CT it was w-a-a-a-a-y too much fun panicking.... and now this? :lol:

Here is a partial pre draft scouting report
Position C. Height 6-4. Weight 300. Birthdate 01/22/1980.

Grove is arguably the best center in this year's draft. He set a school record for the power clean lift when he lifted 360 pounds. He also has a team high in bench press at 490 pounds. At times he has been compared to Chicago Bears center Olin Kreutz. He has a mean streak that is evident in the running game. Grove also shows a knack for leading, which is extremely important at the center position. For such a big man, Grove has enough athletic ability to play guard as well. He is also an extremely smart person who can learn new schemes quickly. Grove has a good combination of strength and explosiveness. He does need to work on perfecting his pass blocking skills, but he should be the first center chosen.

He's not Jason Brown, but he's pretty good. He is better than Samson Satele and would definitely prevent us from having to take Alex Mack. It would pretty much set our draft board to not have to take a C.

He can handle some of the NTs in the league, not perfectly but he's strong and he'd probably be asked to gain another ten pounds or so here.

A major plus if he signs. If we can sign say a Leigh Bodden or another solid level CB to replace Goodman and then Kevin Burnett we're free to do whatever we like in the draft.

So will he be a starter, or for depth.

"CrunchTime wrote:

Here is a partial pre draft scouting report
Position C. Height 6-4. Weight 300. Birthdate 01/22/1980.

Love the sound of that. I like a mean streak in linemen because it becomes contagious down the line.

Finally a free agent visit. Geesh

Wished it was a CB though.

"FreeStyle wrote:

Finally a free agent visit. Geesh

Wished it was a CB though.

We can definitely use a nasty center. But a CB would surely be nice.

Would much prefer it was a center we acquire rather than a CB. I fully expect a CB at 44 at this point.

"Jaj wrote:

Would much prefer it was a center we acquire rather than a CB. I fully expect a CB at 44 at this point.

We need both. Satele struggled for sure. But we are desperately thin at CB. U agree that we will draft a corner, and probably early. But signing a veteran would be a smart move. We need help there with experience and depth.

"PENNSYLVANIADOLPHAN wrote:

So will he be a starter, or for depth.

He would be signed as a Starter IMO .Satele could be moved to Guard .

Berger is depth IMO.

I was a huge fan of Grove when he came out of college. The mean streak runs deep with this guy and I remember him saying something to teh effect of " I love punishing the guy in front of me."

Never heard of him

i thought he would be really good coming out of college, and i watched a lot of the raiders up till this past season(so maybe someone that watched him last year could chime in), but ive been unimpressed with him up to this point.

personally id see this more as depth at Center and Guard. hes versatile and can play both

nice! Id like to see us sign him. Sounds like its just around the corner. Be nice to keep him and move Satele over to Guard. What an O-line we would have then.

However, if they decide to trade Satele, what do you guys suppose we can get for him to stock up some draft picks? Im not saying this is what i want to happen, just curious as to his value at this point.

Wasn't Grove the No#1 center coming out the year he was drafted? Evidently they see something in him or the trifecta wouldn't be bringing him in.

Hope we get this guy. I liked him a lot coming out of college and has been pretty good for Oakland. Would automatically be our starting center. In the draft, we could focus on CB/WR/NT/LB.

"finserg wrote:

Never heard of him

http://www.nfl.com/players/jakegrove/profile?id=GRO743060

Should have went after Geoff Hangartner when we had the chance freaking Bills.

I definitely would have preferred a younger player. Not that 29 is old but I liked it when Carey was the oldest player on the line.

http://blogs.palmbeachpost.com/thedailydolphin/2009/03/02/c-jake-grove-headed-to-dolphins/

The Dolphins hope to have answered their question at center tonight, agreeing to a five-year deal with Jake Grove, an NFL source confirmed.

"RalphX19X wrote:

I definitely would have preferred a younger player. Not that 29 is old but I liked it when Carey was the oldest player on the line.

younger they are the more likely they'll be gone in a few years.

Good deal. Hopefully it wasn't for too much money.

sweet. loved him coming out of Tech. i think this means that Satele stays though, the article stated Grove has only played 16 games once.