Philadelphia Eagles: Jordan Mailata could end up being the ultimate feel good story

Jordan Mailata will make his first career start for the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday.

If you were surprised by the Jason Peters news, shame on you. At 38 years old and coming off multiple injuries his last few seasons, it seemed like it was only a matter of time before the Philadelphia Eagles starting left tackle went down once more. This time due to a reported toe injury, Peters will head to the injured reserve for at least three weeks.

The Eagles were already incredibly thin on their offensive line, as starters have been dropping like flies as early as the offseason. Both Brandon Brooks and Andre Dillard got hurt before the season even began, Lane Johnson missed Week 1 with an ankle injury, and Isaac Seumalo took his own personal trip to the IR last week after the Rams game.

With Peters now ruled out for Sunday’s game against the 49ers, this will be the fourth different O-Line group that the Eagles have started in as many games. Not ideal!

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On the surface, losing yet another starting offensive lineman (especially at the LT position) is a huge blow to an already crippled Philadelphia Eagles team. However, there’s a silver lining. For starters, Peters wasn’t playing particularly well this season (he got destroyed by Carl Lawson in the Bengals game). On top of that, the team will finally be forced to see what they have in one of their more intriguing young prospects.

At just 23 years of age, former rugby player Jordan Mailata will make his first career start on Sunday. Drafted in the seventh-round of 2018 as the ultimate developmental project, the plan was to coach up Mailata over the years, with the longterm vision that he could one day become a serviceable backup tackle. That day unfortunately (or fortunately) came way sooner than expected, as Mailata was thrusted into action for the first time against a dominant Washington pass rush in Week 1.

Subbing in for an injured Jack Driscoll at right tackle, Mailata actually held his own for the most part. He logged 18 total snaps, allowing zero sacks and recording zero penalties. Despite coming in completely cold off the bench, and squaring off against one of the most deadly pass rushes in all of football, Mailata looked serviceable.

*To view his Week 1 snaps click HERE*

Mailata is 6-8 and 346lbs, so he’s literally always going to have the size advantage when it comes to blocking assignments. Pass protection isn’t always about who is the biggest or the strongest, but having such a large frame will undoubtedly aid him against weaker edge rushers. On top of that, his elite size stacked up next to Matt Pryor should give the Eagles a decent enough shot at running the ball to the left side.

Asking Mailata to come in and takeover the LT position with just a day’s worth of warning is a pretty insane request, so I’m expecting there to be some serious growing pains (he’ll probably get cooked tomorrow night). However, if Mailata can show some life over the next couple of weeks, the Eagles at the very least will know they have a serviceable swing tackle. Who knows? If he’s really good at LT, he might even be the team’s starter for the rest of the season.