FanPost

No Otah for Jets


A trade sending OT Jeff Otah from the Panthers to the Jets has been voided as Otah failed to pass his physical. It's been known that Otah failed his first physical last week, that he had until today to pass his physical otherwise he'd be returned to the Panthers, and it is now being reported the trade has been voided. Reported at places like here.

While perhaps a minor storyline -- how much hype can a trade for a conditional 7th round pick get? -- this is fantastic news for Bills fans!

We all know Mario Williams often plays LDE, unlike many other premier pass-rushers who play RDE. This means that Mario often faces opposing teams' RT instead of their LT. And while the Jets have some quality offensive lineman, last year's starting RT Wayne Hunter is a sieve. The pros at profootballfocus.com ranked him as the fourth-worst tackle in the league (thru week 14) last year, already allowing 9 sacks by that point in time. Apparently he ended up allowing 11 sacks and 32 QB pressures last year. Ouch! No wonder some fan posts are referring to him as "turnstile" and nearly every off-season report on the Jets targeted a new RT as a priority (maybe Tebow can play there). I, for one, was licking my chops at the possibility of Mario going up against Hunter twice a year.

Hence the Jets' hope that Otah could step in and fill that void. Which is no longer a possibility.

Now, I'm not suggesting Otah would've been the savior at RT for the Jets. The guy has missed all but 4 games last year due to injury, and has missed games every year of his short NFL career due to injuries. Add in the fact that reports out of Carolina were that Otah was soft, anyways, regardless if he was healthy or not (Darin Gantt works for profootballtalk.com).

But he would've at least provided hope for the Jets. Hope that he was healthy. Hope that a change of scenery could motivate him. Remember, Otah was a former first round draft choice who played relatively well in 2008 and 2009: in 2009, Otah was part of the O-line that helped the Panthers become the first team in NFL history to have two RBs each rush for over 1100 yards. And, again, remember who he was replacing: a player regarded as one of the worst tackles in the league. Perhaps the Jets were desperate, as suggested by several columnists, like Lisa Zimmerman. Hence all the excitement and optimism from Jets fans last week when news broke the Jets acquired such a talent. Posts like here and here and here.

And now that the trade has been voided, there are already some disappointed posts, like here. I don't know about you all, but move that makes Jet's fans unhappy makes me ecstatic!

So I, for one, am looking forward again to the possibility of Mario lining up against Hunter! And the potential (whether it was a long-shot or not) that the Jets significantly improved their weakest spot on offensive line has been nullified - for the moment.

This is good news for Bills fans!

Just another great fan opinion shared on the pages of BuffaloRumblings.com.