NFL star Jordan Mailata writes what is probably the biggest fairy tale about Super Bowl LVII: Mailata had never played football before his 20th birthday and didn’t even know the rules. He also lived at the other end of the world. Now Mailata is one of the most important players in the final. This is his story.
Jordan Mailata was “lost”. So there he was, sitting in his room, having no idea what all the doodles that “X” and “O” in the playbook meant. “I thought it was a guide to building a spaceship,” says the 25-year-old, looking back on his cluelessness about football. “What is that?!”
The Australian was a rugby player in Philadelphia. The problem: He no longer played rugby, but professional American football. He didn’t play a single football game until he was 20 years old. He had no idea about the sport, he makes no secret of that. He says he’s already watched the Super Bowl, but only for the halftime show and the stars (the first was the one with Beyonce). On the Playstation he only ever threw Hail Marys (long high throw forward).
So how did he become one of the stars of the upcoming Super Bowl, one of the most important men on the Philadelphia Eagles?
Demolition first, then rugby
Mailata is of Samoan descent and grew up in Sydney. Fully Australian, rugby was his sport. With the South Sydney Rabbitohs he played in the U-20 youth league. But he wasn’t a big star. Hardly anyone knew him, and there were also money problems. The colossus made it through with demolition work in the morning.
The Game Changers was an agent, highlight video, and international program of the NFL. His agent placed calls in the press that this young rugby player was about to break into the NFL. A highlight video of his Ruby appearances in the U20 team ended up with NFL scouts. With his 2.03 meters and almost 160 kilograms, he impressed in comparison to the other youth players.
Through the official “NFL International Pathway Program” (the league regularly organizes international training camps) he was actually able to prove himself in America. There was also the offensive coach Jeff Stoutland of the Philadelphia Eagles. He recognized what was apparently hidden from others: Mailata’s football talent.
NFL: Hollywood Movie helps with position search
In 2018, the Philadelphia Eagles, then freshly crowned champions, brought him to the NFL – in the final round of the draft, the professional league’s selection process. He became only the second non-college player after Germany’s Moritz Böhringer to make it into the NFL by draft.
But before he would even play a game, two long years would pass. For one thing, he first had to learn the game, find his position. He chose to play as a left tackle, on the offensive line. He is now one of the protectors of Eagles quarterback and playmaker Jalen Hurts. Why left tackle? Well, he knew the position from the movie “Blind Side” with Sandra Bullock. Another curious side story of the curious Mailata career.
As crazy as it sounds, it worked. But first the colossus had to survive a few injuries. In 2019, his back slowed him down massively. Several times he thought he was going to quit, even ran to the team manager’s office to end his journey in the NFL, Mailata reports. But he didn’t want to give up that easily. There was no plan B. “You don’t just have to dip your pinky toe in the water, you have to sink in it and then learn to swim. Don’t be afraid.” He came up with this motto himself, he proudly said in the media round about the Super Bowl. Again and again he addresses this credo.
Mailata against all odds
The overathlete mostly tackled the hurdles that life presented him with. As a teenager, he survived two heart surgeries (ablations). Before that, he had had heart palpitations – he initially thought his large body just didn’t suit the strenuous life of rugby. But he has been cured since 2018.
To stay with Mailata’s water picture: He didn’t sink. He learned to “swim” in the NFL. An injury to starter Jack Driscoll all of a sudden washed him into the lineup in 2020. But alongside stars like Jason Kelce and Lane Johnson, he did his job so well that he could no longer be pushed aside. The Australian established himself as a left tackle. The Eagles’ O-Line under Jeff Stoutland has been one of the best in the league in recent years and especially this season. In 2021, the Eagles rewarded him with a four-year, $64 million contract extension. His Australian team once offered him $5,000.
“I don’t want my quarterback to get hurt and I don’t want to see him dirtier than I am. Those are my two goals,” Mailata explains his job description in the “Philadelphia Inquirer”. He often achieves this with his colleagues. Hurts is playing the season of his life, also thanks to the brilliant O-Line. She could also play the decisive role in the Super Bowl.
No other team protects their quarterback like the Eagles. Hurts will thank you with impressive throws and running moves. Philadelphia put on a run, finished the regular season as the best team and is now in the finals.
In the middle is Jordan Mailata. In no way is he “lost” anymore. But in exactly the right place.
Emmanuel Schneider