The New York Jets announced a trade for Carolina Panthers right tackle Jeff Otah on Monday. The Jets will send an undisclosed conditional draft pick to Carolina for Otah.
Otah (6-foot-6, 340 pounds) is in his fifth NFL season out of Pittsburgh. Otah missed all but four games last season after going on the injured reserve with knee and back problems. An MRI this June showed no serious damage to Otah's knee and he was projected to be a starter for the Panthers this season. The former first-round pick for the Panthers has missed 31 of the last 35 games with injuries. Otah has only played 29 games in his NFL career, 25 of them were in 2008-2009. He only allowed 10 sacks during that period of games.
Otah is a right tackle and will likely be looked at as competition for Wayne Hunter at that spot. Hunter had a Pro Football Focus rating of -31.1 last season, allowing 54 quarterback sacks or pressures in 646 pass-blocking opportunities. Otah was +8.8 in 2008, +0.3 in 2009 and +1.6 in four games last season before being injured, according to PFF.
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