Falcons trade Quinn Ojinnaka to the Patriots
In June 2009, tackle Quinn Ojinnaka (76) and center Ben Wilkerson (67) share a laugh as they walk off the field at the conclusion of team practice. Curtis Compton / ccompton@ajc.com
Offensive lineman Quinn Ojinnaka was traded to the New England Patriots for an undisclosed draft pick on Sunday, the Falcons confirmed. The deal was finalized and announced on Monday.
Ojinnaka was suspended without pay for one game by the NFL for violation of the league’s personal conduct policy. He still must sit out the season opener for the Patriots.
Ojinnaka, who started five games at right guard last season, may participate in all preseason practices and exhibition games.
Ojinnaka, 6-foot-5, 299-pounds, was a fifth-year reserve. He was drafted out of Syracuse in the fifth round of the 2006 draft. He played in 39 games and made 12 starts for the Falcons.
He was originally drafted to be a cut-blocking tackle in the Alex Gibbs blocking scheme that the Falcons ran under Jim Mora. He started seven games at left tackle in2007.
Apparently Ojinnaka was auditioning for the Patriots, who held two practices with the Falcons last Tuesday in Flowery Branch. The Patriots defeated the Falcons 28-10 on Thursday night at the Georgia Dome.
The Falcons have tried to rebuild the depth along their offensive line over the last two offseasons.
They added veteran free agents Brett Romberg and Will Svitek in2009. They also drafted Garrett Reynolds in the fifth round of the 2009 draft. In the 2010 draft, they added guard Mike Johnson in the third round and center Joe Hawley in the fourth round.
The trade of Ojinnaka leaves the Falcons with 78 players on their roster. They have to cut down to 75 players by Aug. 31. The Falcons must cut down to 53 players by Sept. 4.
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78 comments Add your comment
Cut Block
August 23rd, 2010
9:38 am
The falcons can have all the college players from GA and Alabama combined,they are sorry and wont be able to do none.
The town is sport cursed!
Reason
August 23rd, 2010
9:53 am
Knowing Belicheck – I bet he talked the Falcons into taking an 8th round pick!
Scott Case
August 23rd, 2010
10:06 am
I wouldn’t call trading Ojinnaka for a conditional 7th-rounder looking out for the big picture. Actually, I bet it’s not even a 7th-round pick. It’s probably Ojinnaka in exchange for moving up a few spots in the 7th round, conditioned on whether Ojinnaka makes their roster.
Dr. Kenneth Noisewater
August 23rd, 2010
10:06 am
trade certainly won’t hurt us, i firmly believe TD knows what he’s doing
Atlanta Falcons trades | Waterford Place
August 23rd, 2010
10:18 am
[...] Ojinnaka has been traded to the New England Patriots during a draft pick this [...]
rodrj32
August 23rd, 2010
10:21 am
Hey Orlando did you notice they had the wrong picture up for you on ESPN the other day. Sort of ticked me off. They had a white dudes picture in the place of yours. WTH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
robdawg08
August 23rd, 2010
10:27 am
Falcons should have got somebody on defense that can play like a linebacke,db,or a dl in return trade. Damn !
robdawg08
August 23rd, 2010
10:28 am
Orlando, could the Falcons give Marvin Harrison a look at WR ?
Patriots Fan
August 23rd, 2010
10:47 am
The Falcons actually needed to give up a 5th or 6th round pick so we would take him off your hands !!!
Stuart
August 23rd, 2010
10:51 am
I take it he was our third string option? Do we at least have 2 people who were playing ahead of him on the depth chart?
ryan
August 23rd, 2010
11:08 am
I still hope the Falcons pursue Vincent Jackson he is game changer i just don’t Jenkins as 2nd WR .
Falcon Jim
August 23rd, 2010
11:31 am
Maybe a bag of balls.
vafalconfan
August 23rd, 2010
11:53 am
A 7th round pick, chin strap? whatever that’s a good deal for the Falcons.
Dex
August 23rd, 2010
12:10 pm
I feel we need a WR. Roddy White as the #1 WR, HD in the slot, the new guy opposite White, and Michael Jenkins as the #4 WR.
I think Michael Jenkins will be better as the 4th WR anyway.
Whatadahoi
August 23rd, 2010
12:13 pm
This is a headline about nothing. A mediocre team trades a third-string OL for a conditional 7th round draft pick to a team that has a million late round picks. (Yawn) Wake me when something real happens.
E
August 23rd, 2010
12:36 pm
Another player drafted by Atlanta that they never developed into a good player. I don’t understand why they trading for more draft picks when they never do anything with them. Damn having a lot of picks when you don’t know what and how to use them. Watch and see how the Pats will develop Quinn Ojinnaka into a good player because that’s what good teams and organization do that win games, superbowls, good coaching, etc. Being an average team seems to be the goal for the Falcons and pretending to be a great team to the fans so they could sell tickets.
Tweets that mention Falcons trade Quinn Ojinnaka to the Patriots | Atlanta Falcons -- Topsy.com
August 23rd, 2010
1:04 pm
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by PatriotsInsider, ReidAdair, Atlanta Towing, R. Punteño Carranza, Jay Adams and others. Jay Adams said: RT @AJCFalcons Falcons trade Quinn Ojinnaka to the Patriots http://bit.ly/cKL9ak [...]
ryan
August 23rd, 2010
1:07 pm
This could come back to haunt the Falcons if they don’t trade for good WR or a DE .
Tweets that mention Falcons trade Quinn Ojinnaka to the Patriots | Atlanta Falcons -- Topsy.com
August 23rd, 2010
1:07 pm
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Chip Caray, patsnews, patsnews, Atlanta Falcons, Chip Caray and others. Chip Caray said: NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! “@AJCFalcons: Quinn Ojinnaka is traded to the New England Patriots — http://bit.ly/aYM8rA” [...]
BigTimeTECHFan
August 23rd, 2010
4:22 pm
Draft Joshua Nesbitt with the pick and it will be a good trade.
waynester
August 23rd, 2010
4:58 pm
Don’t sleep on Dimitroff as we near the cut-downs. We’re building a pretty good year-round scouting staff and they’ll have lots of tape on guys from other team’s that we liked all along but maybe didn’t have a shot at as a late rounder/UFA from teams with solid, veteran depth. We’re building with young guys anyway, so another team has already put him through camp–he just needs time in our playbook to get up to speed, playing on ST in the meantime….
Red_Rarri84
August 23rd, 2010
5:04 pm
Lets face it this is a special team player pick or hopefully a kicker since im tired of our old wiley vet kickers.
ryan
August 23rd, 2010
5:41 pm
Dude enough with Josh Nesbitt man crush this is Falcons blog besides i say Ryan Malitt or Mark Ingram will win the Heisman Trophy .
ctfalconsfan
August 23rd, 2010
6:24 pm
TomQ
August 23rd, 2010
9:02 am
Glad that Dimitrof is so strategic. Everybody is wrapped up in this upcoming season and he’s focused on the big picture. That is how to build a sustainable team.
———————
Look Tom Q this is Tom D’s 3rd year, ENOUGH building GET IT DONE on the field NOW!!!!
ctfalconsfan
August 23rd, 2010
6:34 pm
My concern with Dimitrof is he seems to believe that having A LOT of 2nd string guys competing for a starting spot is a good thing. Conerback and DE are two perfect examples.
- I like Bierman but he’s no starter in the NFL likewise with Grimes. Again I like both these guys as they work hard but they aren’t NFL starters.
So we have a competition with several 2nd stringers but the result is the winner of a starting spot is just the best 2nd string player we have..
Unfortunately this looks like what is happening with our #2 WR as well. Let’s face it Jenkins is a VERY WEAK #2 receiver for us to start with so I was hoping we would bring in a real deep threat when he got hurt. Douglas OK, but to say FINN? Again love FINN but the guy is certtainly not a deep threat..
ryan
August 23rd, 2010
7:00 pm
Falcons have to something add some depth either at WR or DE because if P. Jerry or Corey Peters go down thats the season .
kingsley
August 23rd, 2010
11:13 pm
its probably an 8th round pick hahahaha
Sid
August 24th, 2010
10:36 am
I looked at each team on the Falcons schedule to see what the opposition had the previous week they play the Falcons. Turns out 12 of the teams played their previous week on the road. They only face one team coming off of their bye week, the Bengals. We catch the Saints coming off of a road trip to SF for Monday Night Football. We catch Carolina coming off a road trip to Seattle. We play Green Bay the week after they play a huge away game against the Vikings. Also, Philadelphia plays us after a road trip to SF. And the Saints may well be pretty beat up for that MNF game after they tangle with the Ravens.
Falcons Vs——————————who opp. played the previous week
@ Steelers——————————–
Arizona ———————————–@ Rams
@ Saints———————————–@ 49ers (MNF)
San Francisco—————————–@ KC
@ Cleveland——————————-Bengals
@ Eagles————————————@ 49ers
Bengals—————————————Bye Week
Falcons Bye Week———————————
Tampa—————————————@ Cardinals
Baltimore————————————Miami
@ Rams————————————–@ 49ers
Packers ————————————–@ Minnesota
@ Tampa————————————-@ Baltimore
@ Carolina———————————–@ Seahawks
@ Seahawks ———————————@ 49ers
Saints (MNF)——————————-@ Ravens
Carolina—————————————@ Steelers