Why Dolphins Gave Up on Samson Satele | FinHeaven - Miami Dolphins Forums

Why Dolphins Gave Up on Samson Satele

mia4ever

mia4ever

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The question I have received from Dolphins fans more than any other this off-season is why Miami moved Samson Satele on his way. Satele was a second-round pick in 2007 and had what looked to be a very productive rookie campaign, so it seemed he had a long-term future in South Florida.

I was of that same mind-set until I broke down the tapes and compiled Satele’s run metrics from 2008. He did fairly well on yards per attempt on his 132 POA blocks; Dolphin ball carriers gained 711 yards (5.4 YPA), and his success percentage was 79.5%. An 80% POA win mark is the rule-of-thumb acceptable benchmark for an offensive lineman, and because centers as a whole tend to have lower POA win totals than do other offensive linemen, that means Satele’s totals, while not great, certainly grade him out as a decent run blocker. He did give up four sacks, but two of those were coverage sacks, so his overall pass blocking didn’t seem to be an issue either.

That raises the query: If it wasn’t his overall performance that caused Miami to give up on him, what was the problem? After perusing his metrics a bit further, the answer became rather obvious: Satele can’t run-block the big nose tackles in the A.F.C. East. The Jets’ Kris Jenkins and the Patriots’ Vince Wilfork are the types of players who can take over games when faced with the right matchup, and Satele was one of those matchups last year.

In the 16 POA runs Satele had against Jenkins, Dolphins runners gained only 48 yards (3.0 YPA). Satele also lost three of those battles, so his POA win percentage was only 81.3%, or just slightly higher than his overall mark. That sounds good, but it is also skewed by the fact that Satele received double-team help (either a combination block or a pure double-team block) against Jenkins 11 times. He lost two of the five single-block POA runs, and it was probably that 60.0% POA win total that told the Dolphins that they needed to make a move.
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http://fifthdown.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/20/why-dolphins-gave-up-on-samson-satele/#more-5945

another great article.........
 
i still think samson will be a good to great center in this league.....
 
Good article but we all saw this by watching the games....

We just could not continue to go into 4 games every year knowing we have a bad match up at the point of attack, the kid had to go.
 
It's going to be humorous if Grove does not do appreciably better against Jenkins and Wilfork. Run the metrics on Grove after he's faced these kinds of players 6 games this year before automatically penciling in "upgrade."

LD
 
LDaniel7 said:
It's going to be humorous if Grove does not do appreciably better against Jenkins and Wilfork. Run the metrics on Grove after he's faced these kinds of players 6 games this year before automatically penciling in "upgrade."

LD
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IIRC, it was because the coaches ran those metrics on Grove (the Raiders played the AFC East last year) against those NTs and he did considerably better than Satele. Doesn't mean it will translate into him being better the next season; that kind of thing we can never know. But he did do better last season against the NTs in our division.
 
This is a decent article, I think it was posted about a month earlier on this site. Satele is an OK center. He just lacks power. Grove and satele look like are fairly close in terms of talent level but Grove has more power then satele. I think grove is going to be an upgrade for us but not an overwhelming one. As it stands now our center postion has been improved marginally, but I am guessing that sporano and Co. would not pass up upgrading that postion if a quality FA became available or if one had fell to us in this years draft and we might even look at that postion in next years draft depending on what we see from Grove this season.

The thing about this trade is I dont see it as a huge upgrade. It is going to have an immeadiate impact but not a major one. What I question is satele's performance in the future. I am expecting him to continue to improve and develop. I cant escape this nagging feeling that overall satele can be the better center of the two. A little bit of work in the weight room and he can improve his strength.
 
GeauxFinns3705 said:
IIRC, it was because the coaches ran those metrics on Grove (the Raiders played the AFC East last year) against those NTs and he did considerably better than Satele. Doesn't mean it will translate into him being better the next season; that kind of thing we can never know. But he did do better last season against the NTs in our division.
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he missed 3 of games vs the afc east tho
 
And if Jake Grove doesn't work out, you can believe he will be out too.
 
shula_guy said:
This is a decent article, I think it was posted about a month earlier on this site. Satele is an OK center. He just lacks power. Grove and satele look like are fairly close in terms of talent level but Grove has more power then satele. I think grove is going to be an upgrade for us but not an overwhelming one. As it stands now our center postion has been improved marginally, but I am guessing that sporano and Co. would not pass up upgrading that postion if a quality FA became available or if one had fell to us in this years draft and we might even look at that postion in next years draft depending on what we see from Grove this season.

The thing about this trade is I dont see it as a huge upgrade. It is going to have an immeadiate impact but not a major one. What I question is satele's performance in the future. I am expecting him to continue to improve and develop. I cant escape this nagging feeling that overall satele can be the better center of the two. A little bit of work in the weight room and he can improve his strength.
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I feel like you are severely underrating Jake Grove. You do not get the kind of money he got unless you are a premiere player, and that's what he is being toted as.

I remember talking about this guy on FinHeaven when he was getting drafted hoping we'd get him, and disappointed when we didn't. I expect him to be everything the organization is hoping for and more.

With Grove, Long, Carey, and a couple nice guards (Smiley and Thomas) this line has the potential to be DOMINATING.
 
I can understand the reasoning for wanting an upgrade at center but I think it was unwise to trade Satele. I believe his worth as a backup was more valuable than what we got from Oakland.

He would have been good insurance in case Grove cant play the entire season and I believe he could have been a legitimate option at guard. Plus he was young enough that I think he could still develop into a probowl level center/guard.

Oh well, what's done is done. It was a bold move by the organization and I find it refreshing that they seem very sure of the type of player they want and they don't hesitate to go after them.
 
kcbrown said:
Good article but we all saw this by watching the games....

We just could not continue to go into 4 games every year knowing we have a bad match up at the point of attack, the kid had to go.
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Again, let's not forget that Satele is still a young developing player and he was playing with a torn labrum last yr.
I'm never in favor of giving up on a young player this early in their careers, unless they completely stink it up.
I've seen too many cases over the years of players becoming above average after their 4th-5th yrs.
Some of these guys need a few offseason strength training programs in the NFL to reach their full potential.
 
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