Former NFL offensive lineman says Eagles rookie Jordan Mailata is showing ‘unbelievable development’

Two weeks ago, Jordan Mailata played in the first football game of his entire LIFE when the Eagles hosted the Pittsburgh Steelers. The 2018 seventh-round pick seemed to handle himself pretty well, especially relative to realistic expectations.

Unfortunately, we didn’t get to see much of the Australian native in last week’s Eagles-Patriots preseason game since he only played four snaps. But Mailata was back in action on Thursday night in the Eagles-Browns game and boy does he have former NFL offensive lineman Brian Baldinger fired up, in a good way! Check out Baldy’s breakdown below:

This is just too good not to transcribe:

Jordan Mailata might be the biggest player in the NFL. And has never played football in his life. 21 years old, 6-8, 350 pounds. Never played football in his life. Watch this kick step. There’s guy’s who have been playing this game their entire life [who] can’t do this. Watch the depth he gets on this kick. This is unbelievable growth here. Let’s just watch him come out of his stance. He FLIES out of his stance. Look at that, it’s like a condor coming out of his stance right here. Now, but the feet are in the ground. Now this is how you flatten a defensive end. He comes across, you flatten him. And then you give him a good push for good measure. That’s development.

But wait, there’s more!

Imagine doing something you’ve never done before. Taking a carburetor apart, acting in a play, designing an app. Imagine taking on something you’ve never done before. Like Jordan Mailata. Now this guy, he was just good last night, I don’t care who he played against. This is just great technique. Like, all night long. I don’t care who he’s playing against. The stance, the shuffle, the hands, the POWERFUL hands. Can I just show you that again? The powerful hands. This happened play after play last night. You want to know why [Nate] Sudfeld had this much time to throw the ball [deep] to Rashard Davis? Well it’s because of that man. You’re talking about UNBELIEVABLE development. You want to see him in the run game? Just wash this player down so that Josh Adams can cut right off from here. Polynesian Power. Now, Nate Orchard is trying to make this [Browns] football team. I think at one time Nate Orchard was a second-round pick out of Utah. But it doesn’t matter. [Mailata] is playing with him here. This is REAL growth. This is amazing! To pass a stunt like this, this is how you do it by the way. You flatten the inside rusher, you flatten him. And you throw him to Chance Warmack. And you wait for the tackle to come around. Violent hands! You don’t see violent hands in the NFL anymore. This guy has got a real chance. I never thought it was possible. It’s unreal. He’s taken a thousand light years of steps in four months.

Now, Baldy can be known for offering hyperbole. But even former Eagles All-Pro offensive tackle Tra Thomas agrees with his assessment.

Mailata still has a long way to go before the Eagles will trust him to play in a meaningful game. But the rookie blocker has shown some real potential this summer. He seems bound to make the 53-man roster at this point.

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