{"id":128744,"date":"2021-09-14T01:11:46","date_gmt":"2021-09-14T01:11:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=128744"},"modified":"2021-09-14T04:59:51","modified_gmt":"2021-09-14T04:59:51","slug":"why-nfl-rivals-passed-on-big-money-mailata","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=128744","title":{"rendered":"Why NFL rivals passed on 'Big Money' Mailata"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jordan Mailata's<\/a> monster performance for the Philadelphia Eagles in his first game after signing a rich contract extension is still reverberating around the NFL.<\/p>\n

Mailata's story is the talk of the league after going from the International pathways program<\/a>, to winning the starting left tackle job in pre-season with the Eagles and locking in a huge contract extension yesterday worth $87 million<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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The former South Sydney under-20s player had two highlight reel moments from his starting debut, playing a role in two touchdowns with huge blocks.<\/p>\n

Mailata<\/a> exhibited perfect timing and hammered a rival with a massive block clearing the path for wide receiver Jalen Reagor to score a touchdown.<\/p>\n

\"Eagles<\/p>\n

He also played a crucial role in creating space for Philadelphia rookie and fifth-round pick Kenneth Gainwell to score his first touchdown and seal victory for the Eagles over the Falcons.<\/p>\n

Philadelphia coach Nick Sirianni told reporters after the resounding 32-6 win over Atlanta that Mailata was in the crosshairs of the Indianapolis Colts in 2018.<\/p>\n

According to the first year NFL head coach, the Colts visited the 24-year-old former Rabbitohs junior before the draft that year and were impressed with his sheer size but deemed there were too many risks involved with the now budding left-tackle's transition. With no college playing experience behind him they dubbed Mailata "all potential", which wasn't enough to sway them.<\/p>\n

Philadelphia eventually took Mailata in the seventh round and have turned a novice into a rising star.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/Mfranknfl\/status\/1437489958302986242?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/a>https:\/\/twitter.com\/ZBerm\/status\/1437491808355901440?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/a>https:\/\/twitter.com\/LesBowen\/status\/1437490858396463104?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/a>https:\/\/twitter.com\/JeffKerrCBS\/status\/1437454822748442626?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/a>https:\/\/twitter.com\/ACPressHuba\/status\/1437368829852651525?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/a>https:\/\/twitter.com\/ashtonsims26\/status\/1437194910516477956?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/a><\/p>\n

Sirianni said he was "really pleased" with how the offensive line is coming along and said Mailata's block for the Reagor TD was a "really big-time play".<\/p>\n

"I can't imagine that DB (defensive back) feeling too good," he said referring to the rival Mailata crunched on the play.<\/p>\n

According to ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter, Mailata's deal "could be worth" as much as $108.7 million, with $55.5 million guaranteed money.<\/a><\/p>\n

Mailata said the life-changing contract had earned him a new nickname in the Eagles locker room – Jordan 'Big Money' Mailata.<\/p>\n

"Everyone called me 'Big Money'. I told them not to call me that. I'm just trying to take it day by day and still have the same process.<\/p>\n

"I've been wanting to buy my parents a house so I can finally do that.<\/p>\n

"I think it is a movie – I'm just waiting for someone to say 'Cut'."<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0clicking here!<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jordan Mailata's monster performance for the Philadelphia Eagles in his first game after signing a rich contract extension is still reverberating around the NFL. Mailata's […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128744"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=128744"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128744\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":128746,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128744\/revisions\/128746"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=128744"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=128744"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=128744"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}