Eagles star Jordan Mailata recounts NFL Draft experience in recent interview
Every single day of every calendar year, Jordan Mailata gets to live a dream that many of us didn’t (and, in some cases, still want to). How many times as a child did you gather your friends at the end of the street or at the park and argue for about an hour over which member of the Philadelphia Eagles you were going to be for this scrimmage that was about to be played?
Depending on how old you are, you could have pretended to be Ron Jaworski, Randall Cunnigham, Donovan McNabb, or Michael Vick (and maybe even Carson Wentz for a year or two). For those of us that were good enough, we starred at our high school alma mater. Perhaps that’s where the dream ended. For some, it may have ended earlier, but here’s the point.
Though it would be really cool to do so, none of us will ever be able to build comradery with our Eagles teammates in the locker room or stand in the huddle while QB1 tells us what the play is. Jordan Mailata gets to do that every day (and make a bunch of money doing so)… Not a bad way to make a living for a former rugby star that never played college ball and had to be shown how to put his helmet on the first time he showed up for an Eagles practice.
Jordan Mailata hangs out with CBS Sports’ Jim Rome during a recent interview.
You’ve heard the following statement before even though Jordan Mailata may not have been the topic of discussion when it was uttered. Some guys just have ‘it’.
The Birds made Number 68 the 233rd-overall selection during Round 7 of the 2018 NFL Draft. Let’s just say that decision has worked out pretty well for them. Not only has he grown by leaps and bounds to become the franchise’s starting left tackle. By the beginning of the 2021 regular season, Philly’s brass has seen enough.
They inked him to a four-year, $64 million contract that included $40.85 million guaranteed on September 11th, a deal that’s now seen as the NFL’s best in terms of value. Recently, Jordan hung out on one of CBS Sports’ flagship radio broadcasts, The Jim Rome Show to discuss some of his journey. Of course, the subject of his draft day experience came up. Take a listen below:
Yep, Jordan Mailata is as cool as the other side of the pillow. Say what you want in reference to some of the Eagles’ draft-day snafus, Jalen Reagor and J.J. Arcega-Whiteside for instance, but they’ve hit the ball out of the park with some late-round and undrafted guys: Mailata, T.J. Edwards, Quez Watkins and the dean of late-round excellence, Jason Kelce.
Jordan is on his way to being one of the greats as well… as long as he stays on the path he’s on. Something tells us that won’t be an issue. He’s already a fan favorite. By the looks of things, he hasn’t scratched the surface of how good he can be.
Click here for the full interview with Jim Rome if you’re interested. You most certainly won’t be disappointed. Come on. Who doesn’t love hearing Jordan talk?
Watching him play isn’t a bad way to spend the afternoon either. Week 1 in Detroit versus the Lions is going to feel like Christmas came early.