The Australian rugby league convert will play in one of the world’s most-watched sporting events after earning his place in Philadelphia and the league
. Singing in the half-time show? “Oh, I’m just playing with you guys,” he told a group of reporters in the Eagles’ locker room. “I never thought I’d be in the Super Bowl when I was watching it.”Anthony Albanese and Caroline Kennedy speak to Jordan Mailata ahead of Super Bowl debut – video
He is large even by the standards of NFL offensive linemen – the Eagles’ other tackle, the 10-year veteran Lane Johnson, is two inches shorter and 18kg lighter – but Mailata was hardly a certainty to claim a spot on an NFL team, let alone become a first-team player on the Eagles offensive line, a fearsome unit that is one of the best in the NFL.
Mailata, who played for the South Sydney Rabbitohs Under-20s, was drafted by the Eagles in 2018 purely for his potential. He was a project. He did not even know how to put his pads on when he started – and did not appear in an NFL regular-season game until his third season. But he learned fast, and his teammates, he said, “embraced me”.“I had no idea which positions they played, to be honest,” Mailata said in the build-up to the Super Bowl.
Before Philadelphia played San Francisco in the NFC Championship game on 29 January, the 49ers’ all-pro defensive end, Nick Bosa, was asked if Mailata presented a unique challenge because of his rugby league background. “I don’t know about unique. He’s huge,” Bosa said. Early in a game that the Eagles would win, 31-7, Mailata plowed into Bosa, knocking him off the line of scrimmage, then churning his legs to wrestle him down. Then Mailata flopped on top of Bosa as play continued,Mailata has benefitted from working with top players, including his singing partners, Johnson and the center Jason Kelce.
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