A Rugby Player is the Eagles’ Best Left Tackle
Neither the First Round pick nor the perennial Pro Bowler can outdo what Jordan Mailata did on Sunday.
Two years and three drafts ago the Philadelphia Eagles made an unprecedented move by trading up in the seventh round. At 233rd overall, the reigning Super Bowl Champions selected Jordan Mailata, an Australian Rugby player with literally zero football experience.
If you have ever played football in your backyard, you have more football experience than Mailata did as he got the call from Doug Pederson. Yea.
Photo: Tim Tai, Philadelphia Inquirer
The decision was chalked up to a late-round flier, a high-ceiling, low-floor, there’s-nothing-to-lose-here kind of pick. At training camp, reporters fawned over the 21-year-old’s charming musical talent, the soft melodies a stark contrast to his hulking figure.
At 6’8” and 346 pounds, the new tackle was more Paul Bunyan than Jack Johnson.
Since then Mailata has been consumed by adjusting his mind and body to the game, working tirelessly to become an NFL-caliber player. The mental and physical toll he has undergone cannot be understated, yet until this week he had yet to appear in a regular-season game — late-game snaps in preseason matchups were all he had to show for his efforts.
The following season, in what can only be described as a decision to move on from the Aussie, the Eagles used their first-round pick on Andre Dillard, the presumptive heir to Jason Peters’ throne. The Washington State Product, selected a whopping 211 picks earlier than his depth chart competition, was handed an opportunity unlike any other for a Tackle: redshirt for a year behind one of the 21st century’s greatest Left Tackles, then take his place. As for Mailata? Keep showing up to practice and someday you, too, can join the practice squad!
This week changed all of that.
With Dillard out for the season, an aging Jason Peters moved back to Left Tackle after a short stint at Right Guard. What started as fatigue became a minor setback and now a worryingly undetermined, yet predictably vague amount of time Peters will remain out. In a world run by the Eagles medical staff, this is par for the course.
Enter Jordan Mailata. Now 23-years-old, Mailata has declared the starting Left Tackle, responsible for defending Carson Wentz’s blindside against last year’s NFC Champions. Granted, the likes of Nick Bosa and the 49ers’ most daunting pass rushers were as incapacitated as the Eagles’ offensive line. Nevertheless, just two years out from having never played the game, Mailata put on his pads and got to work.
62 snaps later, Mailata had allowed zero sacks, zero hits, and just one hurry. For those less versed in football, that’s pretty damn good.
Photo: Yong Kim/Philadelphia Inquirer
Mailata protected Wentz incredibly well, giving him space in the pocket and holding defenders back while remaining calm and ready. While he was weaker in run-blocking (PFF ranked him just 82nd out of 107 tackles), he was graded a 75.2 in pass-blocking. For reference, Lane Johnson, arguably the best Right Tackle in the game, was graded at 76.4.
A lot of things have not gone well for the Eagles this year, but seeing a late-round flier of a draft pick manifest in a legitimate Left Tackle, one of the most important positions in the game, should bring smiles to Philadelphia fans. If that isn’t enough to make you happy, Mailata is actually two years younger than Andre Dillard and set to make markedly less money.
The coming weeks will be an enormous test to Mailata, where he will have to prove himself against decidedly more talented and healthy rosters than what he saw on Sunday night. Regardless of how those games go, for him to outplay any NFL-caliber pass rush just two years after being introduced to the game shows the man is insanely gifted. Athleticism was always his strong suit, and now we are seeing the technique to boot.
Smile, Eagles fans.
We finally have something worth smiling about.
Featured Image: Bill Streicher/USA TODAY Sports
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Categorized:Eagles