Philadelphia Eagles: 3 Reasons Jack Driscoll will beat out Jordan Mailata

1. Jordan Mailata needed every rep necessary to make this Philadelphia Eagles team, and injuries and illness have robbed him of some of that.

Call it muscle memory or call it the steep learning curve that comes with playing a game that you’ve never played before and playing that game at its highest level. Call it whatever you want, but know this. The deck has always been stacked against Jordan Mailata, whether he was a draft choice or not.

First, as mentioned, he had never played American football before. Now, while that’s sort of a good thing with him being a clean slate to paint whatever picture you want to paint on, obviously it has to present challenges.

Most of us have never played NFL football, and we never will, but it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that doing so is difficult, even if you’ve been playing the game for the duration of most of your life. Imagine being Mailata and everything you know has been poured in over the course of three offseasons.

Mailata needed every rep necessary to be successful, and while there have been flashes of talent, there hasn’t been enough to warrant long-term job security. Mailata actually made the team’s initial 53-man roster in 2018 in September, but he was placed on the team’s IR (injured reserve) without appearing in any games.

In 2019, the big guy missed the first two games of the regular-season campaign with a back injury and was again placed on the team’s IR again on September 21st of that year, but that was mostly about stashing him away so he’d be available for 2020. It’s Year 3 now. Much is expected, but again, Mailata’s faced a setback.

He was placed on the team’s Reserve/COVID-19 list on July 29th. He was activated and cleared to play on August 13th, but even though coaches and fans are expecting year three to be the year when everything ‘clicks’. You have to ask yourself whether or not the setbacks have hampered him. This is a huge camp for ‘Number 68’.