The Miami Dolphins have had multiple camp battles during this training camp. Some are still ongoing, some are over and done with.
But while the Miami Herald's Armando Salguero reports that the race to become the starting center is all pretty much over, and that the winner is veteran Joe Berger, I question who would be the better starter for the team, Jake Grove, last years starter, or Berger?
Last year, Grove served as one of the best, and most physical centers in the league. He was one of the main reasons that the Dolphins ranked 5th in the league in rushing up the middle, with a 60% success rate according to FootballOutsiders.com, and ranked 1st in the league as a run blocking unit.
Keep in mind that Grove and Berger split time last year, as Grove missed a few games due to injuries.
But this does not dismiss the value that Grove brought to the run game, and this is why I am so cautious as to whether Berger should be the starting center.
In the upcoming second pre-season game this Saturday against the Jacksonville Jaguars, head coach Tony Sparano has said that he will be playing more of the players who are "fringe players", and who have something to prove.
It just so happens that one of the players that has something to prove is Grove, who has been going through injury issues again all throughout training camp, which may be a large part in why Berger has been announced the starter so quickly.
If Grove can shake the injury bug and compete at a high level this weekend, he should be able to catapult himself back into the argument for the starting center job.
After all, the run game is the teams bread and butter, and the team would not have been anywhere close to the success that they achieved last year without their physical line.
We all know the Fins pass blocking could use a little work, and that their run blocking is the units clame to fame. So it will ultimately be how better both performs in the run game that wins that person the starting job.
While some have declared the race for the starting center position won by Berger, and believe that the competition is anything but over.
My Pick:
I'm putting my money on Grove winning the job at some point. I do not expect this guy to just lay down and watch HIS starting job disappear. The Dolphins also signed Grove last year to starting center money, so this may motivate them a little more to see what Grove can do against the starting units during the rest of the pre-season games.
All in all, Grove is much more physical as a player, which benefits the Fins in the run game, and will help when blocking the bigger bodies in the AFC East. We saw what Grove did last year against the huge nose tackles of the AFC East on a regular basis. Grove is a proven player in that aspect. Berger is not, and that is what concerns me.
If Grove does not have the starting job by Week 2 I will be shocked. Plain and simple.
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